The Alliance of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has revealed that investor interest in Ghana’s petroleum sector has declined since the last agreement with ExxonMobil.
The group claims that despite attending 21 conferences and roadshows between 2009 and 2023, the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Commission have not been successful in attracting investors.
The Chairman of the CSOs, Dr. Steve Manteaw, spoke to journalists in Accra and called on the government to revise its strategy in attracting investors to the upstream petroleum sector.
He highlighted that the parallel direct negotiation process has discouraged participation in the competitive bidding process.
Dr. Manteaw also stressed the importance of improving the government’s relationship with existing investors.
He pointed to the situation with ENI, who have sought legal action in court due to poor management of the relationship, which is detrimental to Ghana’s attractiveness to investors.
The CSOs believe that addressing these and other issues in the sector can release much-needed funds for government programs and relieve citizens from the burden of paying for poor government decisions.
Source: norvanreports.com