Ghana asked to set up oil spillage response fund

A call has been made for Ghana to set up an oil spillage response fund, to address the impact of oil spillage in the country as commercial production of oil is about to begin this year.

The Daily Graphic reports Dr. Thomas Akabzaa of the Department of Earth Science of the University of Ghana, Legon as saying at a workshop on oil and gas that considering the devastating effects of oil spillage, there was the need to include the creation of the fund in the Petroleum Exploration Bill. He made the point citing the recent spillage caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico in the US.

Dr. Akabzaa urged that instead of the euphoria over an emerging oil economy, which is creeping to an explosive level, Ghanaians should rather be sober and reflect on more critical issues that would ensure maximum benefits from the “black gold”, he said.

He said the country should focus on formulating strong legislation that would help yield the desired benefits and not focus too much on the revenue to be derived from the oil production. He called for the strengthening of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enable it measure up to the environmental challenges that the oil industry would pose.

Ghana’s Jubilee oil field is said to be the largest oil field to be discovered in West Africa in the last 10 to 15 years and commercial production of oil is due to begin in the field in November or December 201o.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi