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The power balance in Africa's crude oil production landscape is set to shift in the near future as a number of new oilfields come online.Crude oil has in recent years been discovered in many countries such as Sierra Leone, São Tomé & Príncipe and Ethiopia but it is currently the nations of Ghana and Uganda that are attracting the most attention.
Ghana
Ghana's offshore Jubilee Field, situated approximately 60 kilometres from the mainland is thought to have oil reserves of 1.8 billion barrels as well as significant gas deposits. Production is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2010.
In video: Ghana Pending Oil Wealth
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'The big story for Ghana is that oil production will start [soon], and that will lead to quite a substantial increase in output,' says Peter Allum, the International Monetary Fund's mission chief to the country.
'Now that won't create many jobs in and of itself - it is a very capital intensive industry and the oil is based offshore so a lot of those jobs will be expatriate jobs. But it will generate a substantial boost in revenues for the government - we estimate in the range of 6% to 7% of gross domestic product (GDP). If that money is used wisely, it could lead to a substantial improvement in Ghana's infrastructure and its competitiveness, and that could lead to further growth and job creation.'
The Jubilee Field is set to be developed by a joint venture comprising Tullow Ghana Limited, Kosmos Ghana HC, Anadarko WCTP Company, Sabre Oil and Gas, the EO Group, and the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
In video: Ghana Oil Agriculture Gold
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The Ghanaian government, traditionally seen as one of the better administrations in Africa, recently, however, attracted criticism when it interfered with Kosmos' proposed sale of its stake in the project to Exxon Mobil. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that energy minister, Joe Oteng-Adjei, sent a letter to Exxon Mobil informing the company that a deal with Kosmos wouldn't receive government approval. Oteng-Adjei allegedly said the GNPC would be the only entity allowed to buy the Kosmos stake.
