India has not given up on Ghana’s oil and gas

India is not standing by while the US and China scramble for Ghana’s new found natural resource, oil.

When Kosmos Energy first put up its stake in Ghana’s major oil field, the Jubilee Oil field for sale, India was one of the countries that declared its intention to buy.

In December 2009, India offered to pay about $4 billion for Kosmos Energy’s stake in the field.

India’s Oil Minister, Murli Deora was reported by the Times of India as making a renewed push to open doors for Indian state-run firms in Ghana’s oil industry. He made offers to invest in building new refineries in return for gas and equity in oil fields in Sudan as ONGC Videsh is vying for a stake in a lucrative acreage in Ghana, according to the report.

That interest has been emphasized during the visit to Ghana by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma even though Kosmos has cancelled the sale. While in Ghana, the Minister has pitched more tie-ups between ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas exploratory and acquisition arm of the state-run Indian upstream major, and oil companies in Ghana.

He is in Ghana as part of India’s “Focus Africa” policy. At a meeting with Ghana’s president, John Evans Atta Mills he asked that Ghana should ensure gas supply for a 1.15 million tonne per annum ammonia-urea fertiliser plant in India, which is being built at a cost of $1 billion. The project is expected to be completed by 2014.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi