The Petroleum Ministry has objected to suggestions that government lists the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
The Ministry argues that government’s continuous support to those state institutions is to make them viable.
Civil society groups including the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative have made strong cases for GNPC and TOR to be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
According to them, the move will make them competitive following their systemic inefficiencies.
But the Head of Communications at the Ministry, Edward Bawa disagrees.
He tells Citi Business News supporting the institutions to improve efficiency will ultimately restore confidence in the public.
“We have learnt our lessons from the mining companies that if we do not have a higher stake in the oil company, we cannot get the full benefits from the resource. The only way we can do that is to have a national oil company that can compete with the International Oil Companies (IOC). If you look at the target of GNPC, in the next seven years, they want to be a standalone operator meaning they will pick a field,develop it and produce on their own so we need to give them the support,” Edward Bawa stated.
He added, “Before even people begin to buy shares in TOR, they want to see the viability of the company so it is only fair and proper that we bring TOR back to technical, financial and operational health and therefore if there is the need to look at that option, then we will.”
