Ghanaians working with the Italian oil and gas giant, ENI, are lamenting over what could be described as modern day slavery treatment meted out on them by their management.
The workers, numbering over 300, could not understand why management of Eni, operators of Ghana’s Sankofa Gye Nyame Oil and gas fields, are behaving that way in their own land.
The workers, through their umbrella body, General Transport, Petroleum & Chemical Workers’ Union of Trades Union Congress Ghana (GTPCWU), have, thus, petitioned Ghana’s upstream regulator Petroleum Commission about the unfair labour practices by Eni Ghana Exploration and Production Limited.
In the petition, the Union complained bitterly that about how Eni’s Ghanaian employees have been denied of job descriptions and salary/job role structure for the past 10 years.
“We have engaged management of Eni Ghana at several scheduled salary negotiation meetings from 4th May, 2018, till date to agree and establish a fair level of salaries for the employees amicably and in good faith.”
The employer has unfortunately demonstrated bad faith and no commitment to this cause. The employer is introducing a modern day form of slavery by discriminating against the Ghanaian employees in terms of unfair remuneration,” a letter written by the Acting Deputy General Secretary of GTPCWU, Francis Sallah said.
For instance, it was shocking to note that the least cost of monthly rent of expatriates in Eni Ghana are more than the monthly gross salaries of Ghanaian 1st line managers.
The annual school fees of their colleagues expatriate’s child in Ghana are more than the annual gross salaries of senior engineers. “Our research team report done last year on Eni Ghana compensations and benefits reveals that about 300 Ghanaian employees (permanent & contractors) annual total labour costs is not up to 5% of the total labour costs of the expatriates colleagues who are just a little over 100. This is unacceptable and affront to the laws of Ghana.
“The Union, therefore, has no option than to call on the Petroleum Commission, the regulator, to be part of the next Standing Negotiating Committee. It is extremely sad and disheartening to note that the Ghanaian workers of Eni are woefully underpaid compared to their expatriate colleagues on the same job in the same company as well as competitors in the industry such as Tullow and Aker.
“This is in clear violation of Eni’s own global policy on compensation and benefits that states that: ‘Our compensation package is complemented by a benefit’s programme in line with our competitors and consistent with local regulations. It aims at to enhance overall compensation with benefits which support our people’s current and long term physical and financial welfare.”
Due to relatively low salary of the Ghanaian employees of Eni Ghana, some of the experienced employees have resigned to other competitors in the industries, which has adversely affected the localisation policy, which is being championed by the Petroleum Commission of Ghana, according to Mr Sallah.
“We believe this does not augur well for the young petroleum industry in Ghana to train and develop competent and experience Ghanaian workforce to take over the management of the resources in the near future.”
The Union understands the strategic importance of the Sankofa and Gye Nyame Integrated Oil and Gas project to the partners and the Republic of Ghana, and does not want to take unfavourable industrial actions that will affect the success of the project.
Therefore, the GTPCWU implores the Petroleum Commission to use its regulatory mandates provided under Section 3(a) of the Petroleum Commission Act, 2011 (Act 821) and Local Content and Local Participation Regulation, 2013 (Legislative Instrument 2204) to enforce Article 17 (2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and Section 68 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) with the Ministry of Energy as the supervising ministry to ensure Ghanaian nationals and employees working in Eni receive fair and equal pay for equal work without distinction of any kind.
A meeting held on Monday 15 October, 2018, ended in a dead lock as both parties could not reach agreement because the employer unfortunately demonstrated bad faith and no commitment to this cause.
Management of ENI have indicated to energynewsafrica.com that they would be issuing a response to the statement of the GTPCWU.
Kosmos Energy has failed to find oil at its Moneypenny prospect in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The company on Monday said the Moneypenny prospect, drilled in Mississippi Canyon Block 214 in late October 2019, had been unsuccessful.
“The well, which was targeting net resources of approximately 9 million barrels of oil equivalent, was designed as an inexpensive exploration tail of the Odd Job development well and cost around $3.5 million,” Kosmos said in its 3Q report.
Kosmos, which was recently four new deepwater blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, said that its U.S. Gulf of Mexico production averaged approximately 25,800 boepd net (82% oil) during the third quarter.
The production figures exceeded the high end of the company’s guidance range despite experiencing downtime from Hurricane Barry equivalent to approximately 1,500 boepd for the quarter.
“The strong third-quarter production was driven primarily by Odd Job, capitalizing upon spare capacity aboard Delta House [platform] , as well as initial production from Gladden Deep, the first successful well in the 2019 ILX program in the basin,” the company said.
ILX stands for infrastructure-led exploration which is aimed at areas where Kosmos has existing production and where there is sufficient midstream capacity to enable the development of new discoveries via subsea tieback faster.
During the third quarter, Kosmos Energy generated a net income of $16 million, compared to a $126 million loss in the third quarter of 2018.
Total net production in the third quarter of 2019 averaged approximately 68,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Tema Lube Oil Company (TLOC), a lubricant manufacturing company in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa, has handed over a fully-furnished dental unit, which cost GH¢200,000, to the authorities of the Tema Manhean Polyclinic.
The gesture formed part of TLOC’s Corporate Social Responsibility.
The Manhean Policlinic, which was built in 1978 and serves a population of 110,000 in the Tema East sub-metropolis and its environs and with an average of annual OPD attendance of 16,300 between 2016 and 2018, is unable to provide dental services due to lack of structure and equipment.
As a result, all dental cases were referred to health care facilities elsewhere.
Delivering a brief address, on behalf of TLOC, Alhaji Abdul Rahman Alhassan Gomda, who is a Board member of TLOC noted that the Board of Directors of TLOC decided to go to the Tema Manhean Polyclinic because of the aforementioned challenges.
He said health is one of the thematic areas of the company’s CSR policy, hence, its decision to support the hospital.
Alhaji Gomda explained the work which the company did.
“We undertook some civil works and modification of two rooms, a waiting area and walkway of the polyclinic to get a fully-furnished and air conditioned doctor’s consulting room, treatment room, nurse’s office and an OPD. In the treatment room, a dental chair fitted with the requisite consumables and items have been provided. All of these have been authenticated by the Regional Clinical Engineering Unit of the Ministry of Health as good and fit for the purpose.”
He noted the company over the years has donated various items to communities, organizations and institutions in the country, especially those within its immediate environs, as part of its corporate social responsibility which are mainly in the area health, education and security.
“We have made several CSR in the past including an ambulance to the Tema Polyclinic with repair and insurance borne by the company for three years, Ventilator for the Tema General Hospital, surgical equipment for the ENT Department of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, another ambulance for Tema General Hospital, books, furniture, computers and water dispensing machines for the Tema Library, a fully furnished Police Post near Tema Timber Market for the Tema Regional police Command, among others,” he stated,
He said the company would be able to do more if there is greater patronage of its lubricants namely the engine oil, gear oils, and hydraulic oils for vehicles, machinery and equipment.
“The quality of our products meets international standards and the prices are very competitive. So we encourage you to patronize the lubricants which are produced by us and sold by our customers mostly at the various fuel filling station,” he said.
The Specialist in-charge of Tema Manhean Dr. J. H. K Donkor noted that the journey to the establishment of the dental unit began in 12 November 2018 following management’s appeal through the media for support to the health facility.
He expressed the gratitude of the management of the facility to TLOC for ensuring that their dream of getting a dental unit became a reality.Sources: www.energynewsafrica.com
Nigeria expects to retain international auction houses to have US$40 million worth of jewelry, which was seized from a former oil minister accused of corruption, sold.
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria has secured an asset forfeiture order from a top federal court in the country to sell the jewelry seized from Nigeria’s oil minister in the period 2011-2015, Diezani Alison-Madueke, The East African reports.
Earlier this year, a Nigerian court ordered the seizure of $40 million luxury items, mainly jewelry and a customized gold iPhone belonging to Alison-Madueke.
In addition to the customized iPhone, the items seized included—but was not limited to—419 bangles, 315 rings, and 189 wristwatches, according to Sahara Reporters.
Auction houses will also be asked to sell luxury homes in Nigeria, the U.S. and the UK, according to The East African.
Alison-Madueke served as petroleum minister under then Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, until he was defeated in the elections by current president Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Alison-Madueke was also the first female president of OPEC.
She was arrested in 2015 in London as part of a two-year-long investigation by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) into global corruption, bribery, and money laundering. Alison-Madueke was released on bail after being questioned. She has been on bail ever since, according to AFP, and is believed to be in hiding in London, because Nigeria wants her extradition to face trial on fraud and corruption charges in her home country.
Police and investigators suspect that Alison-Madueke was involved in siphoning off billions of U.S. dollars from Nigerian oil deals and state accounts when she was overseeing Nigeria’s oil industry, for personal benefits, including for buying luxury homes in London and in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
“The ex-minister will eventually be repatriated to face the charges,” EFCC’s acting chairman Ibrahim Magu said on Thursday.
The Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) in the United States of America (USA) Francis R. Fannon has begun a seven day visit to Sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana.
The purpose of his trip is to reaffirm sustained partnerships in energy security and energy resources.
Mr. Fannon will engage with government, business, and civil society to discuss equitable regulatory environments in hydrocarbon production and sustainable energy minerals development.
This trip further integrates the whole-of-government approach to support African energy security and to increase U.S.-Africa trade and investment, along with Prosper Africa and Power Africa.
Assistant Secretary Fannon is visiting the region for the first time as the Department of State’s highest-ranking energy diplomat.
This trip serves as a groundbreaking opportunity to advance new potential partnerships forged at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September, where the United States launched the Energy Resources Governance Initiative (ERGI).
ERGI is an international initiative to develop best practices for sustainable mineral development underpinning clean energy technology.
Mr. Fannon is expected to be in Cape Town, South Africa, where he will deliver a keynote address at the Africa Oil Week conference opened on Monday, November 4, 2019.
From November 6-7, Assistant Secretary Fannon will be in Windhoek, Namibia, to support government-to-government relationships on energy and mines. He will conclude his Sub-Saharan Africa trip in Gaborone, Botswana, November 7-9, where he will reaffirm Botswana’s founding partnership on ERGI.
Brazilian oil company Petrobras has extended a contract with Seadrill for the use of a drillship.
Seadrill said Monday that the contract was for the West Tellus drillship. Seadrill’s West Tellus is a 6th generation DP3 drillship rated for 3,600m water depth. It was built in 2013 by Samsung Shipyard in South Korea.
According to the offshore drilling contractor, the contract value is expected to be valued at approximately $170 million, inclusive of managed pressure drilling and ancillary services. This amount sets the dayrate at around $230,000, which is lower compared to the rig’s previous dayrate of $317,000 (as disclosed in Seadrill’s fleet status report)
The contract is expected to starts in 4Q 2019, in direct continuation of its current contract with Petrobras.
The manager of an oil tanker being probed by Brazilian authorities in connection with an oil spill off the country’s coast has found “no proof” of the vessel conducting activities that may have led to leaks on a journey between Venezuela and Malaysia.
In a statement on Saturday, Delta Tankers Ltd, who manages the Greek-flagged Bouboulina ship, said a full search of the material from the cameras and sensors that all their vessels carry revealed no evidence of the tanker “having stopped, conducted any kind of ship-to-ship operation, leaked, slowed down or veered off course, on its passage from Venezuela to Melaka, Malaysia.”
Delta Tankers reiterated the vessel sailed from Venezuela in laden condition on July 19, heading directly, with no stops at other ports, for Melaka, Malaysia, where the tanker discharged its entire cargo without any shortage.
Brazilian authorities on Friday claimed that a Greek-flagged ship carrying Venezuelan crude was the source of the crude oil tarring Brazil’s coastline over the past two months.
The Brazilians said the tanker appears to have spilled the crude about 700 km (420 miles) off Brazil’s coast around July 28-29, after loading the oil in Venezuela.
The prosecutors conducting the probe said they found strong evidence that the company, the captain and the vessel’s crew failed to communicate to authorities about the oil spill and or release of the crude oil in the Atlantic Ocean.
The contradicting accounts, along with the execution of police search warrants in Rio de Janeiro, brought a dramatic twist into the causes of the mysterious oil spill that has stained tropical beaches along 2,500 km of Brazil’s coast.
Brazil’s solicitor general said the country would seek damages in the case, which has hurt tourism and fishing communities in Brazil’s poorer northeast region.
On Saturday, Delta said cameras and sensors that all its vessels carry as part of their safety and environmental policies, monitor activity on board and alongside vessels, as well as course alternations, stoppages, and speed data.
The company said the material obtained from an analysis of its security equipment will be shared with Brazilian authorities when they contact the company regarding the investigation, adding that no such contact has been made.
A former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s national oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Mr. Alex Mould, has called for a broad stakeholder consensus to give authority to the national oil company, to be a catalyst for deepening local content in the upstream and midstream oil and gas sectors.
Catalysing local content development has been one of the key pillars of GNPC’s strategy.
But as it is now, GNPC is only a non-operating partner in all the oil and gas offshore in Ghana, Mr. Mould said.
According to industry experts, participation in the West African nation’s oil and gas requires large and long-term capital and technical knowledge. None of these is easily available to Ghanaian entrepreneurs.
Besides its rich technical expertise, GNPC has the balance sheet to raise the needed capital for long term exploration and development.
“As the NOC, Government and the public should support GNPC to take increasing stake in oil blocks. This must be done strategically. GNPC must not take higher stake just for the sake of it,” Myjoyonline.com reported Mr. Mould as saying in a speech at the Oil and Gas Conference held at the University of East London in the United Kingdom.
The energy and finance expert added that “The Corporation has a unique reservoir of knowledge on all of Ghana’s basins; more than any other entity. What the Corporation needs is clear support to enable it grow and develop in the manner some of the most successful ones did it, like Petronas of Malaysia.”
Currently, GNPC is the anchor, but a non-operating partner in all the oil and gas fields in Ghana. Not being the field operator limits GNPC’s ability to drive the local participation agenda.
Mr. Mould indicated “more important is how GNPC uses its local dominance in the industry. GNPC’s strategy must be to pave the way for increased local private participation. This could be achieved through listing of subsidiaries on the Ghana stock exchange so that ordinary Ghanaians can buy the shares”.
In the Voltaian basin where GNPC is the sole operator, the Corporation must build an eco-system of local companies to support its activities from these early stages, and grow with them. This will require a number of things: developing a pool of potential local partners, being fair and transparent in the selection of local contractors for any specific contracts, and nurturing them for the long haul.
Speaking on the theme: “Ghana’s Oil and Gas Resources For Socio-Economic Development” Mr Mould noted that, GNPC has been playing an enabling role in the energy sector as well as the wider economy.
“Like any state enterprise, it has a dual mandate: to pursue commercial as well as developmental objectives. During my time as CEO of GNPC, we provided the financial guarantees that enabled the deployment of the Karpowership barge from Turkey to provide electricity. The rationale for GNPC’s support in this transaction was two-fold: the power barge was necessary to mitigate an urgent power generation deficit in the country. But more importantly, the barge was meant to convert from using Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to natural gas. This was meant to avert incurring take or pay liabilities on the Sankofa gas.
“In this transaction also, we did something quite smart: we took up the role to supply the HFO to the barge, at a margin. We also negotiated to use mainly existing placements with banks as the guarantee. GNPC was, therefore, earning interest income on the guarantee.
“GNPC similarly intervened in other areas, including pre-financing the construction of access roads to enable the evacuation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Not doing this would have created a bottleneck in gas processing and gas offtake.”
Also, GNPC can play a significant role in attracting and adapting the right technology to further indigenise the development of the oil and gas sector in Ghana. The sector is technology-driven. Through its partnerships, GNPC must be conscious to partner with companies that are willing to share their technology, including proprietary ones. Then GNPC must invest in its people and processes in order to be able to adapt those technologies to suit the Ghanaian environment.
In addition to that, GNPC must invest in research and technology to solve the peculiar problems of the oil and gas sector, within the Ghanaian context. A good example is Petrobras of Brazil, which invested heavily in understanding its oil-rich offshore reserves trapped below a 2,000m-thick layer of salt, which itself is located below 2,000m-thick post-salt sediments. Now, Petrobras has become a world leader in pre-salt and deepwater exploration and development.
An oil and gas expert in the Republic of Ghana, Mr Alex Mould has advised that, for the survival as well as the future of Ghana’s energy security, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) must transition from an oil company to an integrated energy company.
Alex Mould, who is a former CEO of GNPC, is suggesting that the national petroleum company focus less on fossil fuels (oil and gas) as it does now and rather focus more on greener energy.
“Because even if the oil supply is inexhaustible, the world will eventually move away from oil”, he said this at the maiden Oil and Gas Conference at the University of East London in the United Kingdom.
The world at large is pursuing an agenda to end over-reliance on fossil fuels for centuries now in efforts to reduce the menace of the daunting climate change and the ozone depletion rate. Many development and energy experts have proposed renewable energies as the best alternative to fossils fuels.
He quoted a former Saudi Arabian Oil Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani who once stated that “The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones; and the oil age will come to an end, not because we have a lack of oil.”
Mr Mould, who was one of the energy industry experts invited to speak on the topic, “Can Ghana avoid the oil curse?” called for the need to be a national consensus on the need to redefine the role of GNPC.
As at now, the role of GNPC is to represent the state in oil and gas exploration, development, production and sales activities, he indicated.
In a related development, the former GNPC Boss wants GNPC to be a facilitator to improve active local participation.
“GNPC must lead efforts to improve active local participation. As the National Oil Company, Government and the public should support GNPC to take increasing stake in oil blocks.
“This must be done strategically. GNPC must not take higher stake just for the sake of it. But the Corporation has a unique reservoir of knowledge on all the basins; more than any other entity in Ghana. What the Corporation needs is clear support to enable it grow and develop in the manner some of the most successful ones did it, like Petronas of Malaysia” he mentioned
The former GNPC Boss admonished that, although Ghana is promoting norms and electing leaders democratically, there needs to be a strengthening of the checks and balances in the parliamentary system in order to reduce corruption and the mismanagement of resources.
A Deputy Managing Director in charge of customer services at Ghana’s electricity distribution and retail company, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr. Kwame Agyeman-Budu, has been appointed as the new Managing Director of ECG.
His appointment follows the termination of the appointment of his immediate boss, Ing. Samuel Boakye-Appiah.
He has over 28 years of work experience in the energy industry.
Below is the profile of Kwame Agyeman-Budu.
Profile of the new ECG Boss: Kwame Agyeman-Budu
Kwame Agyeman-Budu is an energy expert with 28 years of work experience in the energy industry. Before his appointment, Agyeman-Budu was the Customer Project Manager in the Energy Service Department of the Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc., the largest utility company in the US with over 15,000 employees and serving over 3.3 million electric customers and over 1 million natural gas customers.
His responsibilities among others were to manage, coordinate, and provide safe, reliable, and efficient electric and gas services to customers.
Kwame Agyeman-Budu(2nd left) chatting with President Akufo-Addo in New York, USA
Agyeman-Budu’s years of experience in the energy industry cut across areas of Distributed Generation (Combined Heat & Power CHP), Solar (Photovoltaic), Advanced Battery, Windmill, and Fuel Cell Technologies, Alternate Energy, Environmental Audits and Monitoring, Environmental Risk Assessment, Power Plant Systems, Smart Grid Systems, and Systems Engineering and Management. In his academic pursuit, Kwame Agyeman-Budu obtained the following qualifications:
Master’s Degree in Energy Management from the New York Institute of Technology, New York
Bachelor of Technology Degree in Telecommunications from the New York City College of Technology, New York
Associate Degree in Applied Science Electrical Engineering Technology from the New York City College of Technology, New York.
Certificate in Facilities Management from the New York Institute of Technology, New York
Teacher Certificate, Wesley College, Kumasi
O’Level Certificate, Ejisuman Senior High School, Ejisu
In his professional career with ConEdison, the numerous contribution of Kwame to the company included:
Managed a $15M High Tension Gateway Expansion Project (GEP) at LaGuardia Airport, New York City.
Managing a $5m High Tension Reinforcement Project, and a 10MW Distribution Generation Plant (Co-generation) for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) at their North River Waste Water Treatment Plant (NRWWTP) in New York.
Managed an 11MW Distribution Generation Plant (co-generation) in Staten Island, New York for Cubit Power (private company) to sell back (Service Classification: SC-11,Buyback) the entire 11MW of power produced to the grid of Consolidated Edison Company of New York.
Supervised the numerous New York City Energy Conservation Solar Projects for New York City Public Schools, Department of Transportation, New York Police Department
(NYPD), and New York Fire Department (NYFD). These projects have brought Load Relief on Consolidated Edison Company of New York to effectively, reliably, and efficiently power its customers in New York City and Orange and Rockland Counties without service interruption.
Responsible for varieties of power distribution, power quality, lightning protection, transformer installations, Distribution Generation (Co-gen), and Natural Gas services.
Responsible for electrical installation, construction, operation and maintenance of High Tension service including all cables, wires, buses, switchgears, transformers, network protectors (NWP), instrument transformers (PTs and CTs).
Responsible for the installation of Renewable Energy Technologies (Solar, Fuel Cells, Windmill, and Thermal).
Responsible for monitoring and controlling of projects costs, and take corrective actions to minimize deviation.
Responsible for approval of electrical services to High Rise Residential and Commercial Buildings.
Responsible for approval and authorization of electric meters to residential and commercial customers.
Reviewed single and/or three line electrical diagrams for the installation of low voltage and high tension services.
Monitored and controlled project cost and took corrective actions to minimize deviations.
Witnessed Ground and Test (G&T) device, proof-test of High Voltage Cables (Hi-Pot), and Ground Resistance Test.
Reviewed and validated customers’
Short Circuit and Coordination Studies, and False Current Analysis. For his hard work, Kwame received several awards at the Consolidated Edison Company of New York for his dedication and service to duty: Team Award (2013), Customer Focused Luminaire Award (2012), Best Employee Award (1993 & 1997), and Excellence Award (1993).
He has also received many awards from the Ghanaian Catholic Apostolate Church of Brooklyn (Service to the Ghanaian Community, Lay Leader Award & Dedicated Service Award), United Ghanaian Association of USA (Dedication of Service Award).
He also served as the board member of Baldwin College Foundation and St. Catherine and Teresa of Little Flower Academy, and President of the Science & Technology Entry Program of the College of Staten Island, all in the USA.
Kwame raised the Ghana Flag at the Brooklyn Boro Hall during Ghana at 60 celebrations in New York and was presented a citation for his service and dedication to the Ghanaian community in New York Boroug President of Brooklyn
At the political front, Kwame Agyeman-Budu has paid his dues to the New Patriotic Party. Amember of the Ejisu constituency, he has risen through the ranks in the NPP-USA branch, starting as the Brooklyn Borough Coordinator of the NPP between 1996 to 1999 and just before his appointment, as the National Organizer of the NPP-USA branch from 2012. In between these times, Agyeman-Budu also serves as the Dep. Gen Sec of NPP-New York (2000-2004)
Gen. Sec. of NPP-NY (2005-2008), Vice Chairman of NPP-NY (2009-2017), and NPP-USA Deputy Organizer (2008-2011).Kwame Agyeman-Budu is a dedicated Catholic with years of voluntary service to the St. Catherine of Genoa Catholic Church in Brooklyn. He also dedicated considerable time to offer voluntary service to the Ghanaian community and its affiliate associations in the USA. Author of the book, Energy Efficient Lighting, Kwame was born in 1962 in Kumasi, had his primary education at Asafo Division Primary School, Kumasi, and his secondary education at Ejisuman Secondary School. Before his elevation to the position of Acting Managing Director, Kwame Agyeman-Budu was the Deputy Managing Director in charge of corporate services. He is committed to contributing ideas to help ECG reach its full potential for the socio-economic development of Ghana.
The Managing Director of Ghana’s power distribution and retail company, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ing. Samuel Boakye-Appiah has been sacked, a letter from the Energy Ministry has revealed.
He has been ordered to hand over to his second in command Kwame Agyeman-Badu with immediate effect.
Boakye-Appiah was appointed in February, 2017 by President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Engineer Boakye-Appiah joined the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) on 4th January, 1990 and has served in various capacities till date.
US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil reported a 3Q net profit of ~$3.2 billion, a 49 percent fall $6.25 billion a year ago.
The company cited lower prices, and higher growth-related expenses in the upstream division, lower margins in the Chemical and Downstream businesses as some of the reasons behind the drop in earnings.
Brent crude averaged $62 in the third quarter of 2019, down from $75 in the third quarter of 2018.
Exxon’s production grew three percent from the third quarter of 2018 to 3.9 million barrels per day. Excluding entitlement effects and divestments, liquids production increased 4 percent driven by Permian Basin growth, while natural gas volumes increased 1 percent.
“Liquids volumes were in line with the second quarter, with U.S. unconventional growth offsetting the base decline. Natural gas volumes were down 1 percent. Permian unconventional development continued with production up 7 percent from the second quarter and more than 70 percent from the third quarter of last year, “ ExxonMobil said.
In the offshore space during the quarter, the company announced another oil discovery on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana at the Tripletail-1 well, adding to the previously announced resource estimate of more than 6 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
The Liza Destiny floating production, storage, and offloading vessel arrived offshore Guyana, targeting first oil at the Liza Phase 1 development by December 2019. ExxonMobil estimates gross production from the Stabroek block will exceed 750,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day by 2025.
In Europe, ExxonMobil signed an agreement with Vår Energi AS for the sale of its non-operated upstream assets in Norway for $4.5 billion as part of its previously announced plans to divest approximately $15 billion in non-strategic assets by 2021.
“We are making excellent progress on our long-term growth strategy,” Darren W. Woods, chairman, and chief executive officer said.
“Growth in the Permian continues to drive increased liquids production and we are ahead of schedule for first oil in Guyana. The value of our position in Guyana improved further this quarter with an additional discovery, our fourth this year. We are also making good progress on our advantaged investments in the Downstream and Chemical.
“This quarter, we started production at our new high-performance polyethylene line in Beaumont. The competitiveness of our portfolio was further enhanced with the divestment of non-strategic assets, reaching almost a third of our 2021 objective of $15 billion.”
The geothermal drilling market size for power generation is expected to post a CAGR of almost 9% during 2019-2023, according to the latest market research report by Technavio.
The rising levels of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) in the atmosphere will lead to an increase in the use of renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar, wind, and hydropower for power generation.
Unlike fossil fuels, geothermal energy generation does not require combustion and releases low amounts of GHGs into the atmosphere. Thus, the increasing emphasis on generating electricity with minimal GHG emissions will increase the demand for geothermal energy during the forecast period.
According to Technavio, another factor stimulating market growth is the development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
Geothermal energy generation currently comes from hydrothermal reservoirs and is limited to few locations across the world. EGS provides high potential for increasing the reach of geothermal energy.
Furthermore, it is a chance to extend the use of geothermal resources to other areas. Although it is still in the nascent stage of development, it has high growth potential and is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period. This will have a positive impact on the geothermal drilling market growth for power generation during the forecast period.
“Apart from the development of EGS, other factors such as the growing application of machine learning techniques to geothermal exploration, rising demand for energy, increasing investments in geothermal energy projects, and the identification of huge untapped geothermal potential will contribute to the growth of the geothermal drilling market for power generation during the forecast period,” said a senior analyst at Technavio.
The EMEA region led the geothermal drilling market for power generation in 2018, followed by APAC and the Americas, respectively, owing to the rise in the adoption of renewable energy in the region.
Furthermore, the growing construction of geothermal drilling projects in economies including Turkey is expected to boost the market growth in EMEA.
APAC is expected to witness the fastest growth owing to the growing construction of power generation plants in Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan, and the Philippines.
The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Cross River Command, said it has seized a truckload of suspected adulterated diesel containing 33,000 litres.
The State Commandant of the Corps, Danjuma Elisha, who disclosed this on in Calabar, said that one suspect was arrested in connection with the incident.Elisha explained that the truck was impounded on Tuesday at the ‘Technical Junction’ in Calabar.
“The suspect and the product were arrested for not having the valid papers to operate in the oil sector and at the same time, the product itself is suspected to be adulterated Automotive Gas Oil.
“This kind of act is against our laws and regulations; this is an economic sabotage. We expect people to do legitimate business, but this very business is illegal and that is why we arrested the truck,” he said.
He said that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was carrying out a forensic analysis of the product.
According to him, after the analysis, the suspect will be prosecuted in court with a view to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to venture into such illegality.
As a result, all dental cases were referred to health care facilities elsewhere.
Delivering a brief address, on behalf of TLOC, Alhaji Abdul Rahman Alhassan Gomda, who is a Board member of TLOC noted that the Board of Directors of TLOC decided to go to the Tema Manhean Polyclinic because of the aforementioned challenges.
He said health is one of the thematic areas of the company’s CSR policy, hence, its decision to support the hospital.
Alhaji Gomda explained the work which the company did.
“We undertook some civil works and modification of two rooms, a waiting area and walkway of the polyclinic to get a fully-furnished and air conditioned doctor’s consulting room, treatment room, nurse’s office and an OPD. In the treatment room, a dental chair fitted with the requisite consumables and items have been provided. All of these have been authenticated by the Regional Clinical Engineering Unit of the Ministry of Health as good and fit for the purpose.”
He noted the company over the years has donated various items to communities, organizations and institutions in the country, especially those within its immediate environs, as part of its corporate social responsibility which are mainly in the area health, education and security.
“We have made several CSR in the past including an ambulance to the Tema Polyclinic with repair and insurance borne by the company for three years, Ventilator for the Tema General Hospital, surgical equipment for the ENT Department of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, another ambulance for Tema General Hospital, books, furniture, computers and water dispensing machines for the Tema Library, a fully furnished Police Post near Tema Timber Market for the Tema Regional police Command, among others,” he stated,
He said the company would be able to do more if there is greater patronage of its lubricants namely the engine oil, gear oils, and hydraulic oils for vehicles, machinery and equipment.
“The quality of our products meets international standards and the prices are very competitive. So we encourage you to patronize the lubricants which are produced by us and sold by our customers mostly at the various fuel filling station,” he said.
The Specialist in-charge of Tema Manhean Dr. J. H. K Donkor noted that the journey to the establishment of the dental unit began in 12 November 2018 following management’s appeal through the media for support to the health facility.
He expressed the gratitude of the management of the facility to TLOC for ensuring that their dream of getting a dental unit became a reality.
Sources: www.energynewsafrica.com
Mr Mould, who was one of the energy industry experts invited to speak on the topic, “Can Ghana avoid the oil curse?” called for the need to be a national consensus on the need to redefine the role of GNPC.
As at now, the role of GNPC is to represent the state in oil and gas exploration, development, production and sales activities, he indicated.
In a related development, the former GNPC Boss wants GNPC to be a facilitator to improve active local participation.
“GNPC must lead efforts to improve active local participation. As the National Oil Company, Government and the public should support GNPC to take increasing stake in oil blocks.
“This must be done strategically. GNPC must not take higher stake just for the sake of it. But the Corporation has a unique reservoir of knowledge on all the basins; more than any other entity in Ghana. What the Corporation needs is clear support to enable it grow and develop in the manner some of the most successful ones did it, like Petronas of Malaysia” he mentioned
The former GNPC Boss admonished that, although Ghana is promoting norms and electing leaders democratically, there needs to be a strengthening of the checks and balances in the parliamentary system in order to reduce corruption and the mismanagement of resources.
