Minority Disassociates Itself From Petroleum Agreement

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has completely disassociated itself from the Petroleum Agreement which was passed by Parliament last Friday, February 19th, 2010, when the Minority staged a walk-out from the House in protest against the arrest and detention of Nana Darkwa, who was said to have made a derogatory remark about former President Rawlings on Top Radio, a private radio station based in Accra. The approved Petroleum Agreement is between the Government of Ghana, the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC), the Afren Energy Ghana Ltd (Gulf Atlantic Energy Ltd) and Mitsui E & P Keta Limited for exploration work in the offshore Keta Contract Area. By the agreement, Afren is to have 68 percent stake in the Keta basin in the event that the oil discovered there is in commercial quantities, Mitsui is entitled to 20 percent; GNPC 10 percent and Gulf Atlantic Energy 2 percent. The Minority�s decision follows the refusal by the Speaker Rt. Hon. Joyce Bamford Addo to allow some corrections or review to be made in the petroleum agreement which was passed in their (Minority�s) absence. Hon. Joe Ghartey, the Minority Ranking Member on Legal Affairs announced the Minority�s decision to disassociate itself from the agreement.