Olivierre: Govt to own piece of African infrastructure

In the debate on the budget yesterday in the Parliament, Olivierre said, “after the past administration derailed our attempts at securing an investment in Ghana, in just 13 months in office, we are well on our way towards owning a tangible, actual, real piece of physical infrastructure in Ghana for transmission of natural gas for power generation.” Contending that, “That is performance,” she said, the investment “will earn us valuable foreign exchange and serve to diversify the revenue base for our state enterprise.” Asked by Opposition MP Ganga Singh to quantify in dollar terms the investment for being on the way to owning a real piece of infrastructure in Ghana, Olivierre said, “At this sensitive stage of the negotiations, because we are also in competition with other entities that are also competing for investment opportunities, I won’t say.” Since Government signed the MOU on May 9, she said, a non-disclosure agreement has been signed with Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) of Ghana to enable the exchange of technical data.

In addition, she said that a MOU was executed between the National Gas Company and BOST for the acquisition, operation and maintenance of transmission pipeline infrastructure. A draft project participation agreement was also developed and was being evaluated for execution, she said.

In terms of new gas supply contracts, Olivierre said that Government was proceeding in discussions with Venezuela for the supply of gas from the neighbouring country’s Dragon Field.

She said that a joint technical team and a joint commercial team of representatives from both countries’ governments were working to develop the commercial terms and to resolve technical issues to take advantage of the offer in the shortest possible time. With respect to the long standing Loran Manatee negotiations, she said that Government has had significant progress over the past 13 months. The Loran Manatee field straddles the border of both countries and Venezuela has agreed to send its portions of gas to be process in TT.

“We have received from the operating companies the final draft UUOA (Unitisation and Unit Operating Agreement),” she said adding that this was in response to the September 30 deadline she gave them. The Ministry of Industry and Energy Industries, she said, was reviewing the agreement.

Meanwhile she said that the outlook for the local oil and gas industry will be “fairly stable in the near future.”