STOP SEARCHING FOR OIL – GNPC CHAIRMAN

As He Freezes Voltaian Basin Project
To the untiring young men and women who survived the rough terrain of politics just to secure the seat of government for President John Mahama, the name “Mr. Felix Addo” will not readily ring a bell. Much so, these hardworking youth will not be able to recollect the face of “Felix Addo” as a party man who will therefore be in a strategic position to manage resources, when the party is in power. However, in today’s Ghana, and under the pen of President Mahama himself, the man Felix Addo is the one who out of the blue, is in charge and calling the shots over Ghana’s oil resources to the extent of now freezing and reversing some of the deep thinking investment decisions initiated by a party guru and an illustrious son, Mr. Ato Ahwoi (affectionately called: Uncle Ato), the former Board Chairman of the national oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

A case in point is the huge expectation that the NDC youth have for the Voltaian Basin Exploratory works initiated by the Ato Ahwoi board of GNPC, to help Ghana solely drill its first onshore oil and gas deposits and thereby provide immeasurable opportunities for our Ghanaian youth in terms of jobs, businesses and also help transform the local economy.

However, reports on the desk of Ghanapoliticsonline.com points to the fact that there has been a directive from the unknown Mr. Felix Addo, that everything regarding this major game-changing and hugely expected project be frozen, henceforth.

Things came to a head, when Mr. Felix Addo, sitting in his capacity as the Board Chairman of GNPC issued a fiat asking that the processes leading to the award of contract for exploratory work on the Voltain Basin Project be stopped and reversed. That the American company selected to go drill for the hydro carbon deposits on behalf of the GNPC, be asked to step back.

Reason, according to John Mahama’s Mr. Felix Addo is that, crude oil prices are down so “there is no money”. Again, Mr. Felix Addo has told the company’s managers that since the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah is not producing to capacity, GNPC cannot be in a position to finance the search for oil and gas deposits in the Voltaian Basin.

The shocking order, according to deep throats, was further enforced by Mr. Felix Addo in an autocratic manner at a meeting of the Entity Tender Committee of the GNPC, held last week, to enable works begin on the much-touted Voltaian Basin Project.

To the surprise of GNPC Engineers whose murmurings were snooped on by our scouts, the belligerent Board Chairman insists that the Voltaian Basin Project be put on hold in spite of the millions of dollars that GNPC has already committed to the search for petro-carbon deposits in the Voltaian Basin.

In preparation to start exploring for oil on shore, GNPC is said to have invested heavily and has already hired an international consultancy firm to supervise the exploration exercise for a 2D seismic data that will prove the potential of the Volataian basin. The contractor who is being paid was billed to supervise the very activity which the GNPC Board Chairman has now decided to put on hold, much to the chagrin of GNPC engineers and other staff working on the Voltaian Basin Project.

“Where did this man come from that all of a sudden he wants to stop us from doing our projects” an agitated staff was heard firing when walking out of a discussion with his colleagues in an office.

Expecting that works will begin according to plan and that oil and gas will be discovered soon, President John Dramani Mahama in his recent visit to the Volta Region, as part of his Accounting To The People tour went promising the Chiefs and people of the region, that there is an impending economic boom, soon as the Volta Basin Project strikes oil. Little did the President know, that the Mr. Felix Addo that he generously appointed to the Chair the board of GNPC, in replacing Uncle Ato Ahwoi, will step-crush the progress of work in our quest to finding oil and gas in the Voltaian Basin.

In days to come, Mr. Felix Addo is expected to once again bulldoze his way to stopping the Voltaian Basin project at the next GNPC Board Meeting, expected to take place on Thursday, 26th May, 2016. This decision will however rock the bad side of the GNPC staff, some of whom, from all indications are preparing for a show down with the new Chairman and his board.

The Chairman’s argument that GNPC is broke has been rejected by the staff, who chided at the Mr. Felix Addo’s suggestions that the Voltaian Basin project be halted on the basis of lack of cash flow.

Documents available to Ghanapoliticsonline.com make an interesting read, when you compare them to the arguments made by Mr. Felix Addo.

“First of all, we didn’t expect our Head of Operations to be nodding his head when the ‘Johnny-just-come’ is trying to make nonsense of all the sacrifices we have made all this while. He has been with us from day one when this strategic plan was drawn, so how come he is sheepishly following this man. Well, if that is how He wants it, we are all here. We shall see” an angry staff said.

Stay tuned for more.