Competitive bidding for Ghana’s oil blocs by prospective oil exploration companies will commence next month, Deputy Energy Minister in charge of Petroleum, William Owuraku Aidoo has stated.
The deputy minister indicated that Licensing Bid Evaluation and Negotiations Committees had been inaugurated at a workshop held for members.
He said, “We look forward to the formal announcement of the competitive bidding round in October, this year. This will pave the way for companies who expressed interest, leading to bidding and awarding of new oil and gas blocks.”
He disclosed that by so doing government was moving away from the practice where oil blocs are awarded to companies without open market bidding.
Speaking at the opening of the 3rd annual Regional Energy Co-operation Summit in Accra Mr. Aidoo said government would ensure that the entire value change is robust so as to monetize domestic gas to meet the energy needs of the country.
Managing Director, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Boakye-Appiah, in a presentation, sought to clarify the misconceptions of the public regarding the privatization of the ECG.
He said under the transaction agreement, ECG was leasing its assets to a third party to operate, maintain and invest in for the next 20 years.
“The operator, who is coming to undertake this activity, will not own ECG’s assets so ECG will continue to be the assets owner and will perform the role of monitoring how effectively the assets are being utilized so that at the end of the 20 years we will evaluate their performance. ECG has not been sold, and there has not been any exchange of shares, nothing has been bought. So ECG will continue to exist and we will perform the role of a responsible asset owner,” he added.
Regional Energy Co-operation Summit
The summit has been endorsed by John Peter Amewu, Minister for Energy of Ghana, with support from leading private sector companies such as AKSA Energy, DLA Piper, Engie, Fieldstone, Manitoba, Metka, Wartsila, Greenvile LNG, ib vogt GmbH, Dell’Amore Consultant, Power Africa, Interplast, and public sector agencies like ECG, GRIDCo, VRA, Bui Power, Energy Commission and WAPP.
The Summit was also used to celebrate GRIDCo’s 10th Anniversary.
Jonathan Amoako-Baah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRIDCo, is expected to make a presentation on the future of transmission networks in West Africa today.
The programme would end with a site visit to the System Control Centre (SCC) and Ghana Power System in Tema.
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