Equitorial Guinea Energy Minister commends Ghana on development in oil industry

Mr Gabriel M. Obiang Lima, Equitorial Guinea’s Minister for Mines, Industry and Energy has commended the Government of Ghana for embarking on a massive human resource development before commencing with the oil and gas exploitation.

He also expressed the willingness of his country to support Ghana to avoid some of the fundamental problems other countries encountered when they embarked on the drilling of oil and gas.

Mr Lima gave the commendation when he addressed the on-going African Energy Week conference and exhibition held in Accra from September 20 -23.

During the three-day programme participants, who are mostly from oil and gas producing countries in Africa and beyond, would share ideas on their activities in the industry, sign some agreements and provide the leverage for the development of oil and gas on the continent.

The Equitorial Guinea Minister, however, cautioned Ghana to move steadily in the exploitation as a rush could throw the entire industry into a state of confusion and anarchy.

“Equitorial Guinea started the programme at a very slow pace of drilling 3,000 barrels per day, but now we drill an average of 314,000 barrels which is very encouraging, and I want to urge the Government of Ghana to move the same way.”

He said Ghana could learn a lot more from Equitorial Guinea because it was the same Company, Kosmos Energy that discovered oil and gas in both countries, adding that the two countries were drawing up synergies to ensure that oil and gas was exploited to the highest level for both domestic consumption and for export.

In a speech read on his behalf, Engineer Andrew Yakubu, a Nigerian oil and gas expert called on other oil producing countries to take up serious environmental programmes in their drilling centres to avoid perennial rancour and bitterness among residents of those sites.

Source: GNA