Comprehensive  Ghana Oil and Gas news, information, updates, analysis


News in Brief

Africa Centre for Energy Analysis Critiques Ghana EITI Report

  • SOURCE: | qwesa2big
  • The Africa Centre for Energy Analysis (ACEP) has indicated that though it is encouraged by the recent disclosure of information by Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy on their operations in Ghana’s Jubilee Fields, it is concerned about an observation in the 2010/2011 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Report on Oil & Gas.

    It said the oil companies did not cooperate with the independent aggregator during the reconciliation process by their unwillingness to provide information beyond payments made to government.

    The aggregator, it said, indicated that even though his “terms of reference for the assignment however required the reconciler to analyze and comment on some details including operating cost, capital allowance computation, prices and liftings by GNPC and the IOCs, the companies were unwilling to provide these relevant information.”

    ACEP, in a release issued recently and signed by Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director, commented: “We also do not understand why the companies could provide this information to institutions abroad whilst undermining institutions in their host operation nations. This is unacceptable and undermines Ghana’s institutions mandated to uphold the integrity of the petroleum industry.”

    It further noted: “We also noticed that the disclosures were not made project-by-project basis. This might be due to lack of ring-fencing rule in Ghana’s regulatory regime. We expect that future disclosures should reflect project reporting as they move towards the development of their second project, the TEN Fields. This will not only show the revenue performance of each project but will more importantly provide a useful basis for tax assessment and the determination of additional oil entitlements (AOE).”

    With the development of implementing rules for the United States’ Dodd Frank Reforms Act and the endorsement of the final version of the European Union’s Accounting and Transparency Directives, ACEP said it was confident that the disclosure requirements by these oil companies will become more comprehensive and comprehensible, without compromising national disclosure standards.

    Whilst Kosmos made significant disclosures in its 2012 Form 10-K as a requirement for being a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange, Tullow, on its part, made such disclosures in its 2012 Corporate Responsibility Report and the 2012 Annual Report and Account.

    In the recent disclosures, Kosmos Energy said it recorded a sales volume of 5,905,000 barrels of oil, sales revenue of US$667,951,000, average sales price of US$113.12 per barrel of oil, average production cost of US$16.11 per barrel of oil, as well as total cost and expenses of US$638,053,000. It registered an income before income tax of US$34,156,000.

    Tullow Oil also recorded royalties and carried participating interests of 464,051 barrels of crude oil while corporate tax was US$40,664,000. Other taxes were US$52,843,000 with other Government payments standing at US$314,000.

    Average sales price was US$108 per barrels of oil (from 2012 Annual Report and Account) while sales revenue was US$958,600,000 (from 2012 Annual Report and Account)

    Furthermore, it said: “In our analysis of the disclosures, we found that Kosmos Energy’s report focused more on the fundamental project economics that could support independent verification of payments to the Government of Ghana, but Tullow Oil provided information on how much has actually been paid to the government, both of which are important requirements for deepening transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry.

    “Therefore, whilst there exist significant material differences in the disclosures between the companies, the disclosures in our view mark an important development in corporate governance in Ghana’s oil and gas industry, a practice that must be commended.”

    Source: Daily Guide.

    Get the latest news and updates on Ghana’s oil and gas value chain by following us Reporting Oil and Gas on twitter @oilgasghana and like our facebook page and get at us on Google+. Subscribe to our group to get updates.

     

     

    Leave a reply

    About Us
    Reporting Oil and Gas project was launched on 4th June 2009 at Takoradi, Western Region, Ghana by Penplusbytes (www.penplusbytes.org) with the vision of providing a one stop online information and knowledge about Ghana’s oil and gas sector read more
    Twitter Activity Stream
     

    Partners We are proud to be associated with:

    Skip to toolbar