“We must ensure that the oil is a blessing and not a curse, and we must use the oil to benefit all the people of Ghana,” commented Ghanaian President John Atta Mills on Ghana’s proclamation of becoming Africa’s latest oil producing member.
As Alternative Energy Africa’s sister publication Petroleum Africa reported, Ghana’s Jubilee Oilfield produced first oil on December 15. Oil first flowed from the Jubilee Field into the FPSO on November 28; however, this was used to commission the facilities. Oil production from the field will initially increase to 55,000 bpd and then to 120,000 bpd, as new wells are completed over the next three to six months. The first tanker of oil from the Jubilee field is expected to be exported this month.
While this discovery will see Ghana move up the economic ladder, it is also attracting more interest from the international community. German Federal Development Minister Dirk Niebel met with Mills and Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor to discuss further cooperation between the two countries including a potential trilateral agreement involving Israel. Niebel said that in the next year an agreement among Germany, Ghana, and Israel could be reached which would make Ghana the first African country to have an agreement with Israel and Germany.
Germany also hopes to help the West African nation implement its law on renewable energy with Ghana’s current target set to increase RE in electricity consumption to 10% by 2020. With Ghana joining the ranks of oil producing countries, it will be interesting to see if the renewable energy law will garner as much support once money begins flowing from oil exports.
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