Executive director of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Dr. Mohammed Amin Adams, says the merger of Ghana Gas and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), by government, is an indication that government has realized its mistake in establishing Ghana Gas.
He explained that since the mandate of GNPC made it possible for the petroleum company to handle gas commercialization, there was no need to have created a national gas company from the onset.
“…most of us thought that the establishment of Ghana Gas Company in the first place was a wrong move. Because if you want GNPC to play that role; integrate upstream and downstream, they should have been allowed to continue with gas commercialization rather than taking gas commercialization out of GNPC, setting up another bureaucracy that has brought so much losses to Ghana. Ghana gas has brought so many losses to Ghana. GNPC could have done it better”.
“I commend government for making that move. A demonstration that the creation of Ghana Gas Company was a wrong move in the first place”, Dr. Amin stated.
According to him, experience shows that deconsolidation of a company’s activities was necessary after consolidation had been properly done and deconsolidation was needed; a situation he says was the opposite in Ghana’s case when gas discovery was made.
Dr. Amin made these comments at a stakeholder discussion organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute and Financial Accountability and Transparency Africa (FAT-Africa), both non-governmental organisations.
The discussion, attended by stakeholders in the petroleum industry and some governance experts, was aimed at supporting public dialogue on the role, ambitions and governance of the GNPC.
Background
The GNPC is the most active state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the country, participating in upstream petroleum activities on behalf of government with a vision of being a stand-alone operator in 7 years (by 2019) and a world-class operator within 15 years (by 2027).
The GNPC’s mandate has expanded in recent years, with the creation of GNPC ExploreCo and government’s decision to put the Ghana National Gas Company under its control.
Currently, the GNPC holds strategic investments in Airtel Ghana, Prestea Sankofa Gold, a mining firm, and also has investments in the hospitality industry in the country.
