*Oil At Last*

*Accra Mail* (Accra)

NEWS

18 June 2007

Posted to the web 19 June 2007

By Atiku Iddrisu

It is nature, through dwindling rainfall, that has brought the Akosombo Dam
almost to its knees, supplying only a fraction of its capacity and crating
an "energy crisis" in Ghana. It is nature, paradoxically, this time, through
the bowels of the earth that is promising a major solution. Ghana's energy
sector, which barely only a few hours ago was the source of much derision
and political point-scoring, all of a sudden, is the shining star of the
future; the source of optimism.

Yesterday Ghana's President, John Agyekum Kufuor received a delegation from
Kosmos Energy. Subject: Oil.

Kosmos is one of the five companies exploring for oil in the West Cape Three
Points of the country's territorial waters.

The delegation was at the Castle to share with the President and the nation,
the happy news of their discovery of oil in substantial quantities.

Mr. James Musselman, Chief Executive Officer of Kosmos, announced that the
company had made what it believed to be a significant oil discovery at the
Mahogany Number One, in water depths of about 1,320 meters (4,330 feet).

"We've encountered 885 feet of gross hydrocarbons with a net pay of 312
feet. This is a very significant discovery but I am going to beg your
patience as we have been talking with the Ministers and GNPC to ask your
patience because we are looking at how we are going to go about developing
it. I know this is an exciting moment for the country and an exciting moment
for us too but we have high expectations.

We are extremely optimistic of where this is going to lead Ghana and
certainly our country is going forward We obviously have a lot more work to
do, this is just a tip of the iceberg so we get a lot more to do before we
can specifically give you specific details" he said.

Mr. Brian Maxted, Vice President of Kosmos, said the discovery is indeed
significant based on three factors: "First, we have encountered oil in
substantial column in a well of 312 feet and that is not a small column;
it's a significant column in the context of not just Ghana but certainly
West Africa. The second thing is that the host reservoir on which this oil
is contained is of excellent quality and thirdly the oil at a first glance
appears to be of premium quality".

President Kufuor, in his remarks, said his confidence is strengthened with
the discovery that the hit made is in significant proportions, likening
Ghana's situation to what has been found in Nigeria and Angola.

The president talked about the impact of the discovery to Ghanaian
especially at this moment when "the country is going through a crisis
[energy] that has been exploited by Ghanaians along the political scene.
Some talk as if the country is on the threshold of doom. But today you have
come to tell us that Ghana at long last has hit oil more likely in large
quantities.

This is a message I believe Ghanaians should welcome and pray that you
succeed in your continued effort so that Ghana will not become a beggar
nation in the petroleum sector."

Finally, it would seem then, Ghana is at last going to have some
self-sufficiency in the "black gold".

The President said the good news should tell all Ghanaians and all people of
good will towards Ghana that "we have the silver lining in our clouds and
that the pessimists lurking in the dark praying that this country will go
down will be put to shame".

He pledged the government's continued support for the project and advised
the company to be careful in its operations. "We are with you and we would
urge you to take very good care of your operations here. This one I would
insist on. You shouldn't allow any one who has no business to do over there
to be there; kick them out", he said.

Mr. Maxted said discoveries of this nature of which there are a number in
Africa takes somewhere between 3 and 5 years to bring into production. He
said the project is going to involve several wells and is going to face some
operational difficulties. He cited in particular what he termed as a "tight
market" for rigs within the petroleum industry at the present time "because
of current activities around the world".
He said "it is possible we start this year or probably next year but you are
assured Kosmos will be pursuing all options open to it to try and accelerate
the pace We are going to make more explorations in order to find more
oilfields for Ghana. We are very pleased as a young company to find what
others couldn't find in the last twenty or thirty years".
---

http://allafrica.com/stories/200706190564.html

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