Accra, June 5, GNA - The Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL) is a clean company engaged in genuine business and is ready to cooperate with the National Security Apparatus in any investigations it intends to carry out.

This was contained in a rejoinder Mr Quincy Sintim Aboagye, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SOPC, signed in reaction to a Ghana News Agency story headlined: "Alleged underhand dealings on Saltpond oilfield. National Security Investigates" that appeared in the 30th May 2011 edition of the "Daily Graphic".

He said the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) has carried out a forensic audit on the operations of the SOPCL and was currently in possession of the report adding that the State had representatives on its Board of Directors.

Mr Aboagye said the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) monitored SOPCL activities and it would have raised the red flag if it had found any underhand dealings.

He decried the tendency of some people to undermine genuine businesses for reasons best known to themselves and said: "SOPCL is Ghana's oldest producer of crude oil. We operate the Saltpond field and store our production pending lifting in our 16,000 MT Storage Tanker the 'MT Bonsu. SOPCL also leases storage space in the MT Bonsu to its major off taker."

The CEO said reputation was priceless in the oil industry and nothing should be done to undermine a Ghanaian company that has been in the oil business for the past 11 years, adding that SOPCL did not deal in petroleum products but produced crude oil and had never sold its product on the Ghanaian market.

He also pointed out that it was the activities of SOPCL that put Ghana on the world oil map and attracted the exploration that led to the huge discoveries of oil and gas.

The GNA reported that: "National Security is to investigate operations of the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL) concerning the management of its storage vessel, the MT Bonsu.

"The investigation has been necessitated by a series of complaints from some operators in the industry and civil society activists, who have accused SOPCL of abusing the lifting and sale of petroleum products in the country."