Parliament agrees to approve amendment to Aker’s petroleum agreement in 6-months

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The Parliament of Ghana at its Fourth Sitting of the emergency meeting held on Friday 3rd May decided to approve amendment No 1 to the Petroleum Agreement among the parties including the GNPC and AGM Petroleum Ghana Limited, in respect of the South Deepwater Tano Area located within the Gulf of Guinea.

By the dictates of Article 268 (1) of Ghana’s constitution, any rights or concession for the exploitation of any mineral, water or natural resources of Ghana is subject to ratification by the legislative assembly known as Parliament.

Pursuant to the law, the Minister for Energy laid before the house for the consideration and approval of the Amendment to the said Petroleum Agreement.

The house returned a verdict of conditional approval by resolution, whereby it directed the Minister to incorporate 2 stated recommendations within six months in order to validate the approval

The recommendations were as follows

a. That the Ministry of Energy renegotiates the additional interest from 3% up to 10%.

b. That the Ministry together with Petrica Holding AS should facilitate the resolution of issues surrounding the 2.5% shareholding interest of MED Songhai in AGM Gibraltar and its consequential interest.

c. That the Minister briefs the house on steps taken to implement the committee recommendations within 6 months of this approval.

By this, the Minister of Energy has a busy schedule within the next six months as he must return to Parliament with the new additions to secure the approval for the Agreement.

By: John Awuni