Tsikata: Ghana’s Oil Monster Indeed

Tsikata’s first bout with our country’s oil industry was mired in wastage, ineptitude, and woeful causing of financial loss to the state that resulted in his imprisonment. As we all know, not a drop of oil was discovered during his tenure. Now that someone else has discovered commercial quantity oil, he is back again with his shenanigans justifying his status as Ghana’s Oil Monster. In the last year and a half, our investigations have revealed that the actions of the Tsikata controlled GNPC have been detrimental to Ghana’s interest.

In the following paragraphs, we will list specific atrocities committed by these ideological dinosaurs whose only aim is to scuttle wealth creation for everyone except for themselves. The level of jealousy and sheer ignorance that adversely impact policy on oil and gas is unimaginable, and Ghanaians must know these before they jump on a pseudo-nationalistic bandwagon. True nationalists do not engage in the following activities:

Verifiable Fact Number One: Soon after commercial quantities oil were discovered from the Jubilee Field, a program was put in place to accelerate development with the aim of producing first oil in 2009. Unfortunately, when Tsikata controlled team took over the reins at GNPC, they delayed the signing of the Plan of Development (POD) until July 2009. Therefore first oil was postponed to the end of 2010 thereby denying Ghana one full year of revenues to the tune of over $1 billion.

Verifiable Fact Number Two: This same Tsikata has now become the subject of an IFC investigation due to his shady dealings with MODEC, the builder of the super tanker (FPSO) that was scheduled to be the centerpiece of the oil production later this year. As a result of this investigation, there is the potential of IFC pulling its funding, which would result in a delay of first oil until 2012. Ghana could consequently lose revenues totaling $3 billion.

Verifiable Fact Number Three: When foreign energy companies who had already invested billions of dollars in Ghana were looking for additional financing from international bankers, this same Tsikata controlled GNPC actively lobbied against their efforts. If they had succeeded, hundreds of Ghanaians would have lost their jobs, Ghanaian owners of office buildings and service providers would have lost income, and the economic impact would have been dire, not to mention that first oil would have been delayed.

Verifiable Fact Number Four: Ghana has committed along with the comity of nations not to flare gas or waste resources. Thus it was agreed that the development of the Jubilee Field would be done concurrently with the development of the gas processing infrastructure to maximize the benefits of our energy resources. Along came Tsikata’s new GNPC with the change of government. They quickly handed the $1 billion gas processing contract to a non-performer like OANDO of Nigeria. Now the gas processing has ground to a complete halt, whilst the Jubilee oil production is on track. Therefore the gas from the Jubilee field would have to be flared, resulting in Ghana losing $1 million a day in revenue.

Verifiable Fact Number Five: In the oil industry adherence to international standards of project approval processes are critical to yielding optimum revenue. Unfortunately since the Tsikata controlled GNPC came into being, due to their globetrotting tendencies, a simple project approval takes months where it used to take just days. Not only has the Chief Operating Officer monopolized the approval process, he travels every week with Tsikata, his mentor in their vain quest for funding that does not exist for ex-convicts. That means these approvals have to wait on his desk for weeks until his return. These translate into major revenue loss to Mother Ghana. What is sad is that the competent professionals at GNPC have been marginalized, and thus cannot contribute to their maximum capacity. The list goes on and on.

As major as these atrocities are, they unfortunately constitute a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the improprieties having occurred at the Tsikata controlled GNPC. At the appropriate time, if need be, more revelations will be made. It is long past time for Ghanaians to wise up and not be blinded by fake nationalistic chants that these elements at GNPC are currently engaged in. We believed them and allowed them to hand our gas processing to non-performing OANDO of Nigeria. We are losing $1 million a day as a result. Today these radicals at GNPC are asking us to trust them again in their quest to hand our oil to the non-performing Chinese despite their abysmal operational record in mining and petroleum production. The trend is clear. The Tsikata controlled GNPC prefers to deal with non-performing companies because it is more important to cut shady deals with them than ensuring that Mother Ghana is p