Bob Marley said in 1979, that in the abundance of water, the fool is still thirsty.
The petroleum agreement that was signed by the leaders of Ghana, on behalf of the people of Ghana, after Ghana discovered oil, gave the right to the British company; Tullow oil to own approximately 35% of the total oil reserve. An American company called Kosmos Energy owns 25%, another American company called Anadarko Petroleum owns 25%, another American company called Sabre Oil owns 2% and two individual American-Ghanaian called Kwame Barwauah Edusei and George Owusu own 2%. The remaining 10% is owned by GNPC on behalf of the people of Ghana.
The recoverable reserve in Ghana is 660 million barrels of oil and 0.8 trillion cubic feet of gas. Assuming the average cost of oil per barrel is $85, and gas per cubic foot is $8, which is less, Ghana's reserve can generate a $56 Trillion minimum for oil and a $6.4 Trillion minimum for gas, a total of $62.4 Trillion. Mind you, $ 21.84 Trillion will go to Britain's economy through Tullow, $32.448 Trillion will go to the American economy through Kosmos, Anadarko & Sabre. Only $ 6.4 Trillion will go to GNPC on behalf of the people of Ghana, and $1.248 Trillion will go to those two individual Ghanaians with American citizenship whose account is in a tax haven in the Cayman Islands, not Ghana. Patriots indeed?
Now, the $6.4 Trillion revenue that is expected to be received by GNPC on behalf of the people of Ghana after the operations, the greedy politicians have created a lot of money swallowing vortex around that funds which will sink the money deep into their own pockets, than into the life of the ordinary Ghanaian. That's not to make matters worse, GNPC, the receiving operation of the funds has also decided to sponsor beauty pageants, and unrelated events that are not core to its mandates, instead, of pumping the money into developing skilled labor, and buying operational equipment to prepare for future operations, so that we wouldn't have to depend on foreign companies who milk us unsympathetically.
As if all that is not enough, Ghana consumes 88'000 barrels of oil per day, but produces an average of 100'000 of oil per day which is more than domestic need, guess what? Ghana export over 55'000 barrels per day, ( 56 %) because our hands are forced to do so, we claim we need the money more than the oil, after getting the money, then we use it to buy more oil in the international market for our domestic oil deficit, which is more expensive, to the consumer, so oil prices are always skyrocketing in a country that produces more oil per day than it consumes. And the country is still importing petroleum products with the claim that they do not have money for refinery after sponsoring beauty pageants, and the First Lady's projects with the oil funds. They do not even know refinery can even create thousands of jobs if done well.
The government has already squandered over $1 Billion of the oil revenue. All the major players in the industry like Tullow have their senior management as white folks, the local people that are employed in the sector do not have the requisite knowledge background, they are trained on the job, they may be good at what they are trained specifically to do, but they may not have the in-depth knowledge as someone who has schooled for it. They'll rise through the rank and eventually take over when the white folks leave when there's nothing left, but because of the lack of deep knowledge they'll make experienced but short-sighted decisions that are not cutting edge.
And that was the same problem Ghana faced in the mining sector, energy sector, cocoa sector, and any other sector. We haven't learned yet, so instead of expanding, we keep shrinking from bad to worse. So the oil will finish yet Ghana wouldn't have anything to show for it. If another country gets just 1% of what we have, they'll be a wonder. Some countries have made it with just oil, why can't we do the same?
A bunch of short-sighted egomaniacs, English-speaking pseudo-intellectuals, Tribal bigots, demagogues, unintelligent populists, and greedy elites everywhere.
