By Dominic Hlordzi
The Public Interest and Accountability Committee, PIAC is concerned about the non-payment of over $100,000 million into the Petroleum Holding Fund by the Jubilee Oil Holding Limited in the first half of this year.
The amount is the proceeds from the lifting of about 944,000 barrels of crude oil from the oil field.
At a news conference to release its semi-annual report on the management and use of petroleum revenues for the first half of 2022, the Committee said the development is against the dictates of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.
In the 2021 PIAC Annual Report, the Committee indicated GNPC’s acquisition of a seven percent interest from Anadarko WCTP Company, a partner in the Jubilee and TEN Fields.
However, through a Share Purchase Agreement between Anadarko Offshore and GNPC and funds advanced by the Ministry of Finance, a new company, Jubilee Oil Holdings Limited, JOHL, was formed to hold the seven percent commercial stake.
The acquired interest was to be transferred to GNPC Explorco, a subsidiary of the Corporation.
According to PIAC, this has not been done and JOHL has started lifting crude oil and its first proceeds were not lodged in the Petroleum Holding Fund according to Nasir Alfa Mohammed is the Vice Chairman of PIAC.
PIAC said JOHL is not registered in Ghana and this may have tax revenue implications on the State. PIAC’s independent assessment reveals a number of issues.
In its recommendation, the Committee said it is convinced that the over $100,000 million proceeds form part of Ghana’s petroleum revenues and should be paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund.
