Oil find brings challenges- Geophysicist

Accra, Nov. 27, GNA - Mr. Theophilus Ahwireng, Geophysics Manager of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), on Wednesday underscored the urgent need by stakeholder institutions to develop the human capacity to meet the challenges of the nascent oil industry. In a lecture in Accra on the theme: "the Geological and Geophysical Contexts of the Oil Discovery" Mr Ahwireng said the nation should be able to provide technicians in all the areas and opportunities opened by the discovery.

The lecture on the broad theme; "The Challenges of Oil Discovery in Ghana" was part of the week-long series of lectures to mark the 2008 Founders Week celebrations of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mr. Ahwireng said Ghana's oil field, nicknamed the Jubilee Fields, located offshore in the west, was one of the largest finds worldwide in recent times. The oil was very light and attracted very high prices on the world market.

According to Mr Ahwireng, the application of geophysics and geological knowledge in the form of scanning of the earth had indicated the presence of earth fluids, and consequently would not require the drilling of many offshore wells, one of which cost about $50 million. This, he said, would cut down the cost of drilling, but added that non-renewable nature of oil required that it was used judiciously. He reiterated that the need for "strategic thinking" for the oil to benefit the people.

"Institutions must take up the challenge, and come out with innovative research and activities," Mr. Ahwireng said. He cautioned against excessive expectations and possible over-reliance on the oil to the neglect of other equally good sectors of the economy.

Mr Ahwireng gave the assurance that the GNPC would avoid the flaring of oil, not only to extract the other components of oil such as water and gas, but also to maintain environmental sanity. Mr Jonathan Allotey, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the benefits of oil should not undermine the nation's natural resources.

He said the oil find was likely to lead to community clashes over rights of ownership of waters, in addition to such environmental concerns such as fragmentation of habitats, oil spills and the disposal of hazardous waste as well as low level technology and health personnel to deal with the problems. Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, who chaired the lecture, said the discovery might also make people migrate.