AngloGold Ashanti gets world’s worst company award for bad corporate behaviour in Ghana

AngloGold Ashanti Limited, the world’s third-largest gold mining company has been giving an award for being one of the world’s worst companies.

According to Greenpeace and Swiss left-wing group the Berne Declaration (BD), organizers of the 2011 “Public Eye Awards” edition, AngloGold Ashanti was given the award for the contamination of land and poisoning of people from gold mining in Ghana.

The award is given to companies with irresponsible corporate behaviour.

A Reuters report also says the mining firm had the award for “mistreating people in Ghana and polluting rivers”.

On the Public Eye Awards website, WACAM, a Ghanaian NGO which nominated AngloGold for the award, in its summary notes said “The South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti contaminates land and people with its gold mining in Ghana. To extract 30 kg (66 lb) of gold, 6,000 tons of rock are mined every day, then ground up and mixed with cyanide in tanks. The highly-toxic mining waste is kept in large storage ponds that contaminate rivers and wells, as well as all those who (must) drink from them”.

“No wonder AngloGold Ashanti received the worst possible rating for social and environmental protection from the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency in a recent industry comparison”, WACAM added.

The awards website also showed a clip on YouTube in which young men on crutches are seen along with trucks driving in open-pit mines.

But speaking to the Reuters news agency, AngloGold spokesman Alan Fine said he did not know what criteria were behind the organisation’s selection, adding the group never contacted AngloGold for comment.

“As far as we can ascertain, the vast bulk of what they refer to were events and things that happened a long time before AngloGold became active in Ghana in 2004,” he said.

The award ceremony was held on Friday January 28, 2011 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting of top business and political leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

On January 19, 2011 Ghana sold 1.28% of the country’s stake in AngloGold Ashanti for $43.97 a share and raised $215 million.

According to the Johannesburg-based unit of manager Macquarie Group Ltd, the sale of 4.88 million shares leaves Ghana with 1.72% in AngloGold that it agreed not to sell for 180 days.

The Ghana government was the majority shareholder in Ashanti Goldfields Company, until it announced plans to sell 20-25% of its interest in the mine. Subsequently, the company was listed on the London and Ghana Stock Exchanges.

In 1996 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange to raise new capital and it became the first African company to appear on Wall Street. In 2004, it merged with AngloGold to create the world’s second-largest gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti Company.

AngloGold Ashanti owns two mines in Ghana at Obuasi and Iduapriem.

By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana can learn from Trinidad & Tobago’s oil and gas success story

The Caribbean island state of Trinidad and Tobago is a success story and good example of a developing country that has made the most from its oil and gas industry.

The country is among the world’s five leading exporters of natural gas and so, news about a joint oil venture between that country and Ghana is encouraging.

It is also the single largest supplier of liquid natural gas  (LNG) to the US, providing two-thirds of all LNG imported into the US since 2002.

Ghana can learn from Trinidad and Tobago and derive greater benefits from its oil and gas.

In 2009 a delegation arrived from Trinidad and Tobago to explore possibilities of getting opportunities in Ghana’s nascent oil and gas industry. Officials expressed the desire to share the country’s about 50 years in the oil and gas industry with Ghana.

The delegation emphasized the need for Ghana to involve local participation in the industry.

Trinidad and Tobago is reputed for making the best out of its oil and gas industry by taking over the gas sector and commercializing it.

It is said that when the oil companies producing oil said they weren’t ready to trap and process the gas, the country said it would not allow flaring. The country quickly built infrastructure near the production site, bottled the escaping natural gas as oil was being produced, bottled it and sold.

This is a valuable lesson Ghana can learn from Trinidad and Togabo.

Trinidad and Tobago has transitioned from an oil-based economy to one based on natural gas. The country produced 115.2 million cubic meters of gas per day over the period October 2007 through April 2008 up from 111.9 million cubic meters per day over the same period in 2006-2007, according to information on the US State Department website.

About half of the country’s natural gas production is converted into liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Atlantic LNG facility in Trinidad and exported under long-term contracts and on the spot market.

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar told the media in her country last week that Ghana’s cabinet has approved “in principle” an oil and gas proposal for a joint venture between the two countries.

She indicated that her country will be using its knowledge of the petroleum industry through economic and technical co-operation with Ghana.

Ghana needs to learn from the best examples and success stories in the oil and gas industry. More importantly, looking at Ghana’s over 100 years experience with the mining industry, it is in the country’s interest to avoid pitfalls associated with the oil and gas sector.

Source: ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana’s first oil production expenditure within original budget – Tullow

The first commercial oil produced from Ghana’s Jubilee field was within budget, says Tullow Oil.

According to Tullow Oil the first successful oil production which was achieved on schedule within 40 months of discovery was also within estimated budget.

Commenting, Tullow Oil’s CEO, Aiden Heavey said “In 2010 we achieved exceptional exploration success and together with our partners delivered ‘First Oil’ on schedule in Ghana by year-end,  and was within its original budget.”

According to the UK oil and gas explorer which owns majority share in Ghana’s Jubilee oil field, the largest oil field to be discovered in West Africa in the last 10 to 15 years, the final cost of the first oil production is “expected to be within 10% of the original $3.1 billion budget.”

This was revealed in Tullow Oil’s trading statement and operational update published January 27, 2011 on its website.

According to the statement, Tullow is expecting a full production capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day in the next six months.

“Current gross production is around 50,000 bopd from four wells and full production capacity of 120,000 bopd is expected to be reached within six months as the remaining five production wells are completed and brought on stream”, it said.

Production of oil from the Phase 1 development of the Jubilee field was inaugurated by the President J. E. A. Mills of Ghana in a First Oil ceremony on December 15, 2010.

After lifting the first 650,000 barrel cargo Jubilee crude oil on January 5, 2011, Tullow said a water injection to two wells which is currently 75,000 barrels of water per day and a further four water injection wells will be completed during 2011 to maintain production levels.

The statement however said a gas compression commissioning on the FPSO commenced in January with gas injection to the reservoir is scheduled to start in February 2011.

To help maintain field production levels and develop further reserves, Tullow is planning work for Phase 1a, of the Jubilee fields to comprise between five and eight infill wells which started in fourth quarter 2010 adding “It is anticipated that the investment decision will be made in third quarter 2011 following analysis of reservoir performance and submission of plans to the Government of Ghana.”

“A Declaration of Commerciality for the Mahogany-East discovery (previously known as “Southeast Jubilee”) was submitted by the Operator of the West Cape Three Points licence, in September 2010 and a Plan of Development is currently being prepared.”

The statement added that “The development of the Mahogany-East reservoirs, which are extensive but generally thinner than in the main Jubilee reservoirs, will be either a standalone development or a tie-back to the existing Jubilee field subsea infrastructure.”

Tullow however hinted that it is planning a secondary listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

In November 2010, Tullow announced that in order to create a more accessible opportunity for Ghanaian individuals and institutions to invest in the future of the oil industry.

“Originally planned for December, the Listing has been postponed due to the requirement over that period to focus on First Oil from the Jubilee field and year-end corporate planning”, Tullow said.

By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghanaian man wanted for fraud in America arrested in India

A Ghanaian man who was on the Interpol wanted list has been arrested in India, US media has reported.

The 56-year-old Dan Boakye Agyenm (Most probably Agyenim) is an alleged fraudster wanted by authorities in America for defrauding a bank of over $300,000.

The suspect was reportedly facing an Interpol red corner notice since June 7, 2009, but was arrested when he flew into India with an expired US passport. The passport had expired on December 30, 2010.

He was being sought for allegedly having minted money out of counterfeit cheques which were submitted for clearance in a Californian branch of a US bank.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) is preparing extradition papers to extradite Agyenim to the US to face trial.

Source: ghanabusinessnews.com

Oil spillage pollutes Ghana’s Axim coastline

A long stretch of the coastline at Axim in the Western Region has been inundated with heavy oil spillage, known as tar balls, as a result of the increase in vessel traffic in the country’s waters.

The substance is not the country’s sweet crude currently being produced offshore at the Jubilee Fields but heavy waste oil from vessels that supposedly visit the country’s ports for commercial or supply services.

At the moment, the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) is yet to identify the par­ticular vessels that continuously discharge the waste oil into the country’s waters.

The inhabitants of three communities in the Axim municipality – Amanfukumam, Akyinim and Brawire – who are mainly fishermen cannot use their beaches as a result of the situation.

However, the Western Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Gershon Sogbey, and a team from the Eco Brigade have moved in to clean portions of the beach to enable the fishermen and the community to use it.

Mr Sogbey told the Daily Graphic that the team had managed to clean most of the affected areas, especially the place the fish­er folk could use for their trade.

He said his outfit was very vigilant and proactive and would ensure that the affected areas were cleared in order not to affect the activities of fishermen.

When contacted, officials of the Environ­mental Protection Agency said they had vis­ited the area and taken samples of the sub­stance for examination.

Source: Daily Graphic

Ghana earns €10m from wood products in 2010

Ghana realized €10,042,257 from the export of 30,168 cubic metres of wood products in December 2010.

This was contained in a report on export of wood products for December 2010 released by the Timber Industry Development Division in Takoradi on Thursday.

It said the corresponding figures for the same period in 2009 were €9,844,948 and 37,594 cubic metres, showing an increase of 02 per cent in value and a decrease of 19.75 per cent in volume respectively.

The report said of the total value of €137,847,837 for January to December 2010, primary products including poles and billet accounted for €6,779,913 as compared to €12,613,306 from the total value of €128,226,984 in the same period in 2009.

It said tertiary products registered €10,223,279 in January-December 2010 and €8,125,878 in January-December 2009.

The report said secondary products fetched €120,844,645 in January-December 2010 and €107,487,800 in the same period in 2009.

It said Africa recorded €53,520,865 and 191,435 cubic metres in value and volume of total wood exports for January-December 2010.

The report said Europe accounted for €40,031,245 and 85,304 cubic metres in value and volume respectively of total wood products for January-December 2010.

Key markets during the period included Italy, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and Holland.

Emerging markets in Asia and Far East including India, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Singapore and Thailand together contributed €23,812,440 to the total of wood export value in January-December 2010.

It said India continues to be the leading importer of teak poles, billet and teak lumber.

It said The ECOWAS market mainly Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Gambia, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo absorbed €49,181,516 of Africa’s €53,520,865 wood imports from Ghana in January-December 2010.

The report said plywood and air dried lumber including ofram and ceiba species continue to interest the Nigeria and Niger markets.

It said the Middle East countries notably Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, United Arab Emirate and Israel together contributed €10,490,886 to the total export value for January-December 2010.

Source: GNA

Ghana’s ‘Owo’ fields expected to start commercial production in 2014- Tullow Oil

Tullow Oil Plc says it is expecting to start first commercial production at the Tweneboa and Enyenra (Owo) fields in 2014.

According to the UK oil firm, it has conducted a “successful appraisal drilling and testing programme in the first half of 2011, a declaration of commerciality for the Enyenra and Tweneboa areas will be submitted to the Government of Ghana later in the year.

“This will be followed by the submission of a Plan of Development Q1 2012 and, pending approvals of this plan and a timely sanction of the project, first production is expected before the end of 2014”, says Tullow Oil in its trading statement and operational update published on its website on January 27, 2011.

The Tweneboa-3 appraisal well in the Tullow-operated Deepwater Tano licence (Tullow 49.95%) completed drilling in January 2011. The well was designed to penetrate two separate areas of the Tweneboa field with two wellbores.

The first intersected nine metres of gas-condensate pay in an off-axis region of dim seismic. The second intersected a region with a stronger seismic response where 34 metres of high quality gas-condensate pay was found.

The Enyenra-2A well is currently drilling and a result is anticipated by the end of February.

The statement said “Development schemes are focused on optimising the recovery of both the light oil discovery at Enyenra and maximising both liquid and gas recovery at the extensive Tweneboa gas-condensate field.”

By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

Passing petroleum bill won’t affect contract with oil companies – Energy Advisor

There are various petroleum bills before Ghana’s Parliament, but when these bills are passed into laws, they would not change anything in the contract that the country already has with the oil companies producing oil in Ghana.

An energy advisor to the Ghana government Tony Paul has told journalists from Ghana and Uganda at a training workshop in Accra that even if the current law is repealed and new laws come into force, these will not affect the way Tullow Oil or Kosmos Energy does business with Ghana because these companies, have a “ring fenced contract” with the government and contracts can only be renegotiated when the other party agrees.

Meanwhile, the agreements that Ghana has signed with the oil companies remain mostly unknown because the parties are under obligation to keep them confidential.

It is therefore, unclear to whose greater interests those agreements serve.  There is also conflicting information as to what percentage Ghana owns in the oil that is now being produced in the country’s largest field – the Jubilee oil field.

The field is said to be the largest oil field in West Africa containing 1.5 billion barrels of oil.

On local content, Mr. Paul observed that even the Ghana government has acknowledged that its objective of attaining 90% Ghanaian ownership in the oil industry by 2020 is not realistic.

According to him, in looking at local content, Ghana must target areas that are strategic to its interest.

Source: ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana’s offshore broadband network behind schedule

An offshore broadband project in Ghana that would have been the first of its kind in Africa has failed to meet it completion period.

The collaborative offshore broadband project between MTN Ghana and PARD Energy of Norway was expected to have been completed by October 2010, but there is no word yet on its progress. During question time  at a one-day workshop in Accra Friday April 30, 2010, Mr. Trygve Tamburstuen of PARD Energy had said the project should be ready in six or nine months time.

If completed, the world class broadband solution, according to Mr. Tamburstuen would meet the data storage and transfer requirements of Ghana’s oil sector, both offshore and onshore.

The project was initially set to have taken off before commercial production of oil began in Ghana December 15, 2010.

Enquiries sent to MTN Ghana asking about the latest development on the project have not been answered.

Sources: ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana’s economy leans towards weak cedi in 2011 – Renaissance Capital

Ghana’s economy has been said to be biased towards a weak cedi due to fears for the economic phenomenon known as Dutch Disease, following the commercial production of oil in Ghana in December 2010.

In a report tilted ‘Ghana’s 2011 economic outlook’ Renaissance Capital says the drop in the value of the cedi over the past two months is attributed to a shortage of dollars due to the Bank of Ghana’s absence in the foreign exchange market as a seller of dollars since late December 2010.

Renaissance Capital is a leading investment bank focused on the emerging markets of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and sub-Saharan Africa, the firm says on its website.

The hiatus, it says since the last bond auction, in October 2010, has also been longer than usual, which implies that Ghana has not had an injection of portfolio inflows in a few months. These developments, which coincide with the commencement of oil production in the country, are in accordance with some officials’ bias for a weak cedi to counter the potential Dutch Disease effects of a commodity exporter.

The report indicates that Ghana’s uncompetitive manufacturing sector is especially at risk from a strong cedi. A smaller current account deficit in 2011, owing to the projected 40-50% increase in export earnings and fall-off in some big-ticket capital equipment imports, which are required for the commencement of oil production, suggests that the cedi will retrace some of its value in 2011. However, the bias towards a weak cedi is likely to counter any strengthening tendencies, it adds.

The website Investor World describes the Dutch Disease as “The deindustrialization of a nation’s economy that occurs when the discovery of a natural resource raises the value of that nation’s currency, making manufactured goods less competitive with other nations, increasing imports and decreasing exports. The term originated in Holland after the discovery of North Sea gas.”

Renaissance Capital projections put oil production at 17% of non-oil GDP, indicating that, the sector will boost the demand for services.

“Ahead of the commencement of oil production the business services sector, including ICT, financial services and commerce, and the hospitality sector exhibited strong growth in 2010. This is expected to continue in 2011, with the striking of first oil expected to propel real GDP growth to 10.5% in 2011, from 6.6% in 2010, before moderating to 7.1% in 2012,” it said.

The report projects that credit growth will strengthen.

It says the recovery of credit growth is expected to continue in 2011 on the back of lower interest rates, a decrease in the nonperforming loans (NPL) ratio and strengthening economic activity, adding that the average lending rate decreased to 27.6% in November 2010, from 32.8% a year earlier, thus easing the cost of capital.

Moreover, it says the government has cleared some of its arrears, which partly helped lower NPLs to 18.1% in September 2010 from 20% in February 2010. The improvement in credit growth that began in mid-2010 stemmed from the recovery of international trade and industrial production. In particular, credit extended to exporters and importers grew by 77% YoY and 30% YoY, respectively. The construction sector, which was the worst hit by unpaid  government contracts, is expected to stage a recovery in 2011. This is positive for lenders because pre-crisis almost 10% of credit went to construction.

On the return of double-digit inflation. It said Inflation has been on an almost two year decline on the back of good levels of rainfall, tighter fiscal policy, softer commodity prices and a stable cedi. However, it has hit bottom and is set to increase in 2011, after coming down nicely to a two-decade low of 8.6% year-on-year in December 2010.

Inflationary pressures, it said will mainly stem from non-food inflation, particularly energy prices. In early January 2011, the government announced a 30%increase in the fuel price, in accordance with the higher international oil price. A stronger oil price will translate into higher transport and distribution costs.


Source: ghanabusinessnews.com