GNPC’s quest to acquire stakes in offshore fields ‘mindboggling’ – Bright Simons

President and founder of Mpedigree, Bright Simons has raised concerns over a plan by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation to acquire two stakes in the country’s offshore fields.

The two oil blocks in question are that of Aker Energy and AGM Petroleum Ghana.

The GNPC through government explained the move forms part of efforts towards taking control over its own oil exploration and production.

Reacting to the development in a writeup copied to GhanaWeb, Bright Simons described the decision as ‘mindboggling’ and questioned the motive of GNPC to venture into such a deal.

“The talk today then about GNPC needing to borrow large sums of money to “become an operator” is plain nonsense, GNPC has the opportunity to be the operator of a block nearly a decade ago,” Bright Simons lamented.

“Suffice to say that GNPC’s stints at operatorship of both OSWT and SDWT have been a technical disaster of sheer unproductivity,” he opined.

The process on the part of the government through GNPC has been initiated to acquire a 37% stake in Deep Water Tano Cape Three Points and a 70% stake in the South Deepwater Tano.

Should the move sail through, Ghana’s interest in the Aker Energy and AGM blocks will increase to 47% and 85% respectively.

Read Bright Simons opinion here: