A former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. Amos Ofori Quaah, has officially launched a book which chronicles his role and steps Ghana’s national oil company took leading to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 2007.
Dr. Ofori Quaah, a Geophysicist graduate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), started work with GNPC in 1985 and rose through the ranks to become the CEO of the corporation between 2001 and 2002.
Having been part of the formative group of the GNPC, Dr Ofori Quaah set out to debunk those false theories and detail the technical work and sacrifices that went into making Ghana’s oil find a reality.
The 358-page non-fiction literature recounts Dr. Quaah’s early industry experience at Phillips Petroleum Company in London, the advantage of going through several departments which gave him a solid grounding in geophysical data acquisition and processing, quality control and interpretation, as well as geology.
These strengths would prove so crucial later as he supervised and or processed every seismic survey the corporation embarked on in seventeen years.
In those seventeen years, Dr. Ofori Quaah mapped every basin in Ghana and recounts the very interesting experience of making the first-ever seismic map made in Ghana, by “borrowing” lead and coloured pencils, and erasers from the stocks of his three-year-old son because such basic supplies, especially of good quality pencils, were difficult to find in Ghana when he returned in late 1984.
These cool real flashbacks, among others, in the book give it a highly humane and relatable feel one does not need to be an industry expert for their mind’s eye to welcome and embrace the book.
The book touches on an extensive mapping project he did on the Cape Three Points sub-basin of Ghana’s Western Region in 1992. This turns out to be the major turning point of the whole offshore Ghana exploration effort.
Fifteen years later, an American company drilled the first commercial oil discovery in the same area and within the same geological system, he had predicted in 1992.
He includes in the book a scanned copy of parts of the project report he had written on the project, which rekindles the controversy a few years ago, about the Cape Three Points discoveries.
Dr. Quaah revealed that he and other principal characters involved in the exploration programme in the early days of GNPC never benefited from the oil largesse.
Also, several young children missed the presence and love of their fathers very early in their lives because their fathers had to travel on official assignments away from home in Ghana or overseas in dedication to this project.
“For the sake of those children and their mothers, those unsung heroes and heroines, something had to be written down for posterity, and this book tries to honour the hard work of such individuals.” Thus, he said, is one of the reasons he wrote the book.
Titled: ‘My Footprints In Ghana’s Black Gold’, the launch attracted petroleum sector players.
In attendance at the book launch were high-profile dignitaries such as Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist and politician; Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana; Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, Board Chairman of Ghana Revenue Authority and CEO of Tropical Cables & Conductors Ltd;Lawrence Apaalse, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy Lawrence; Mr. Thomas Manu, a former Deputy CEO of GNPC; Theophilus Ahwireng, Managing Director of MODEC Production Services Ghana (MPSG) JV Ltd; and several former staff of GNPC among others.
The Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, a Board Chairman of Ghana Revenue Authority and Founder of Tropical Cables & Conductors, described the book as a captivating memoir of Dr. Amos Ofori Quaah’s role in Ghana’s oil industry.
According to him, it is an inspirational book for the younger generation who wants to know the history of Ghana’s oil discovery.
He, therefore, called on players in the oil and gas industry to grab copies to read to broaden their scope of knowledge in the industry.
Copies of the book can be found on Amazon, EPP books, Kingdom books and stationery and Baatsona Total.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
