Skip to main content

GNPC begins to acquire data on Voltaian Basin

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is undertaking a process for acquiring images of underground geological structures to determine whether the Voltaian Basin area contain oil and gas.

As part of the process, the GNPC engaged about 23 metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) which are located within the area where the Voltaian Basin covers.

The exercise by the GNPC was part of processes towards using a scientific process to acquire information about the structure of rocks in the area (2D Seismic Data acquisition).

The Voltaian Basin is said to be the largest onshore area of the country with rocks that have the characteristics of those that produce oil and gas.

A statement from GNPC stated that the engagements, which started in the Mion District in the Northern Region, had a GNPC team briefing the communities about the scope of the upcoming project, processes involved, its potential impact as well as mitigation options available to address them.

The team which was made up of the Petroleum Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and security agencies briefed the communities also on plans and processes in place for computing and paying compensation where applicable.

The other districts the GNPC team covered were West Mamprusi, Savelugu-Nantom, Nanomba-South, Nanomba North, Yendi Municipal, East Mamprusi, Mamprugu-Moaduri, Gbunkprugu-Nyonyong, Tamale Metro, Karaga, Gushiegu, Central Gonja and East Gonja, all in the Northern region.

The rest were Pru, Sene East, Kintampo and Atebubu-Amantin, in Brong-Ahafo region; Agogo, Ejura-Sekyidumase, and Sekyere Central in the Ashanti Region; as well as Afram Plains North and South districts in the Eastern region.

Stakeholders that participated in the community engagements included: Metropolitan, Municipal, District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and their Co-ordinating Directors.

Others are land and property owners, family and clan heads, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the various areas. Community leaders, including traditional rulers, and assemblymen in those areas also participated in the public hearings. The concerns of the communities were also noted for redress.

The six-week public community engagement by the GNPC team was led by the Mr. Alexander Mould, the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GNPC.

 “We are committed to working in partnership with the people in the communities where we operate.   Therefore we deemed engaging these communities important to take on board their concerns, and assuring them of our commitment to addressing them,” Mr. Mould stated. Mr. Mould appealed to the stakeholders to lend support to this national course.

The community engagement followed a national event held by GNPC in Accra about five months ago with over 50 participants from stakeholder agencies, including regulatory bodies in attendance.


The Voltaian Basin is the inland and largest but least-explored of the country’s four sedimentary basins, measuring 103,600 sq. km (covers about 40% of Ghana’s landmass). GNPC has plans to gather seismic data to determine the petroleum potential of the basin.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Vodafone sells 45% shares in Verizon for US$130 billion

Vodafone has sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to US telecoms group Verizon Communications in one of the biggest deals in corporate history. The US$130 billion (£84bn) deal was announced by Vodafone after the close of trading on the London Stock Exchange. The company will return £54 billion to its shareholders, of which £22 billionn will go to shareholders in the UK. Vodafone will also invest money in its business, with funds earmarked for high speed mobile phone networks. It said that by 2017 its main five European markets would have almost complete 4G coverage. Possibly it would be wrong to carp and wring hands that Vodafone won't be paying a penny of tax to the British taxman” Vodafone group chairman Gerard Kleisterlee said: "The transaction will position Vodafone strongly to pursue our leadership strategy in mobile and unified communication services for consumers and enterprises, both in our developed markets and across our emerging markets businesses." The...

Shortage of weighing cards hit major hospitals in Accra

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express There is scarcity of Child Health Records Book (weighing cards), in some major public hospitals in the capital, information reaching the Daily Express indicates. Checks by this paper revealed that while some of the hospitals have being encountering the shortage for about a year now, others started experiencing it six months ago. In place of the Child Health Record Book (weighing card), the nursing mothers are given a single card on which information of children are recorded on it. Those hospitals identified are the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic, Kaneshie Polyclinic, Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nursing mothers are given yellow cards in place of the weighing cards. The Public Relations Secretariat at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital said such information has not come to their notice and for that matter they cannot comment on it. “We do not have some ...

ABL launches chibuku super in Bolgatanga

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) has officially launched the Chibuku Super drink at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region with the aim of reaching a lot of customers. Mr. Thomas Nii Ponku, Supervisor in charge of Chibuku Super at ABL told Daily Express that the management decided to launch the Chibuku Super drink in the Upper East region because they’ve realized it is similar to a traditional drink in the region. “Chibuku is like a well developed pito, a traditional drink made from fermented millet or sorghum in the Northern part of Ghana. So the idea is to provide them with similar drink,” he added. Mr. Nii Ponku disclosed this when members of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured the facility of ABL to acquaint themselves with the expansion project at the factory. He mentioned that after a feasibility study, they realized there is a potential market for the product in the northern part of Ghana ...