The Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber has called on the Secretary to the Economic Management Team, Prof. Joe Amoako-Tuffour in the Vice President’s office at Jubilee House. The team was led by Mr. Joe Mensah, Senior Vice President & Head of Kosmos Energy Ghana, Chairman of the Council of the Chamber, Mr David Ampofo, CEO of the Chamber and Mrs. Kadijah Amoah, Country Director of Aker Energy Ghana Limited and Council Member of the Chamber.
They exchanged ideas with Prof Joe Amoako-Tuffour on ways of addressing the present challenges facing the oil and gas sector. The sector has been hard hit following a near collapse of the price of crude oil which occurred after the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, and its hugely negative impact on global supply chains and businesses, resulting in what has come to be known as “the new normal”.
The parties discussed the current fiscal and regulatory environment and explored ways to match today’s uncertainty with opportunity. Mr Joe Mensah called for a frank conversation with policy makers saying “the whole fiscal regime needs to be re-evaluated”. Commenting the CEO of the Chamber, Mr David Ampofo said “clearly it cannot be business as usual given the wide-ranging impact of COVID 19”.
Mrs. Kadijah Amoah applauded government’s announcement that it is considering implementing a taxation sliding scale, adding “it increases government’s take in a high oil price environment and adjusts downwards in a low oil price environment”.
Professor Amoako-Tuffour expressed gratitude to the members of the Chamber for providing input to the ongoing discussion on how to manage the current challenges in the oil and gas industry. He said there was a need to encourage investment in exploration in an uncertain price environment, and ultimately support Ghana’s accelerated growth strategy.