Ghana says in talks with Chinese oil investors-Reuters + China gives Ghana over $3bn loan

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Ghana says in talks with Chinese oil investors-Reuters + China gives Ghana over $3bn loan: "

By Joe Brock

LONDON (Reuters) - Ghana is making good progress in talks with Chinese investors interested in buying a stake in the West African nation’s oil assets, its deputy energy minister said on Monday.

Ghana aims to produce its first barrel of oil this year but developments have often been overshadowed by talk of disputes between state oil firm GNPC and foreign energy firms.

Last month U.S.-based Kosmos Energy cancelled an estimated $4 billion deal to sell its stakes in the giant Jubilee oilfield to ExxonMobil after months of resistance from GNPC, which made no secret of its own interest in the assets.

But Emmanuel Buah, Ghana’s deputy energy minister said on Monday that the dispute has not deterred new investors and it was not opposed to future collaborations with new partners.

“If you see the amount of investors we’ve had this year, it tells you the story that Ghana is the investment centre of West Africa,” Buah told Reuters at the sidelines of a economic growth conference in London.

“China has interest in Ghana and we welcome that…There are a lot of ongoing discussions and we’ve made a lot of progress with the Chinese.”

Buah would not confirm which Chinese firms were interested or if any formal agreement had been reached.

Buah reiterated on Monday that Ghana was on course to become an oil-producing nation by the end of the year and output would quickly reach around 120,000 barrels per day (bpd).

PRODUCTION TARGET

Ghana expects to be producing 250,000 bpd by 2013, which based on current levels would make it sub-Saharan Africa’s sixth-largest producer after Nigeria, Angola, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Congo Republic.

While its neighbours may have greater production capacity, Ghana believes the high quality of its oil makes it more attractive to potential buyers and investors than rivals.

“Our light, sweet crude has a bigger draw to investors than you will find in Nigeria or Angola,” Joe Amoako-Tuffour, an official at Ghana’s finance ministry told Reuters.

Lighter crude is cheaper and easier to refine into oil products, like gasoline, for sale to end users.

Ghana’s offshore Jubilee field, operated by Britain’s Tullow Oil, holds around 1.6 billion barrels of light crude and is one of West Africa’s biggest recent discoveries.

The challenges involved in managing an offshore oilfield of this size were pulled into stark focus earlier this year following the United States oil spill disaster.

“The Gulf of Mexico incident should provide a lesson to Ghana,” Buah said. “In the coming weeks the ministry of Ghana is organising a stakeholder conference to really learn the lessons and see the things we can do to make sure we are in a position not to repeat what went wrong.”

In April an explosion on a rig offshore the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and led to the worst accidental offshore oil spill in history.

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President John Evans Atta Mills and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, on Monday signed a deal for China to give Ghana a loan of three billion dollars to develop her energy sector. Specific areas to be targeted under the deal include infrastructure development, job creation and the development and other derivatives of oil and gas.

The package, which would be disbursed through the China Development Bank, constitutes the first phase of Chinese assistance, which would start rolling out in the next six months after the Government of Ghana has devised a framework for the package.

The deal was announced following close-door bilateral talks between President Mills and the Chinese President held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on the second day of President Mills’ five-day state visit to China.

In addition to the three billion-dollar package, China would also give Ghana preferential buyers’ credit of 260 million dollars for the expansion of the Kpong Water Works project and another loan of $150 million for Ghana’s e-governance project.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Mr Koku Anyidoho, Head of Communications at the Office of the President, said President Mills committed himself to supervising the operational areas of the facility. Consequently, the project areas are clearly and comprehensively demarcated for monitoring.

“On the basis of equality, mutual benefits consultation, the Government of Ghana and China Development Bank shall set up a long-term strategic co-operation through a long-term project financing for infrastructural development and have agreed to bring export competitiveness and co-operation in the oil and gas sectors, their derivatives and the agricultural sectors,” Mr Anyidoho said.

President Mills, in his remarks before the meeting went into a closed-door session, commended the Chinese leader for his astute leadership and marketing of China to the world.

He recalled that they had exchanged visits when they both served their nations as Vice Presidents, and shared fond memories of activities in those days for the mutual benefits of their people.

President Jintao observed that the relationship between the two nations dated back to the last 50 years, adding that the visit would make for new opportunities in the relations of their nations. President Jintao thanked Ghana for sharing the pain when China was recently hit by a landslide.

In all, eight agreements that cover Chinese financial assistance, transfer of medical equipment, malaria drugs from China to Ghana, would be signed.

Earlier in the day, President Mills laid a wreath at the Monument of the Peoples Heroes and visited the Chinese National Olympic Stadium called the Bird’s Nest.

On arrival in China on Sunday, President Mills stressed Sino-Ghana relations and collaboration for mutual benefits.

He said it was time the two nations, and for that matter China and Africa, got together to chart a new path because they had similar backgrounds and past experiences, stressing that collaboration among them would help to achieve the common objectives of raising the living standards of the people.

In a brief statement on his arrival at the Beijing Capital International Airport, President Mills told the welcoming party, led by the Chinese Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Zhat Jin, that Ghana welcomed collaboration and improve ties with China to accelerate her level of development. GNA

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