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Doubts have been raised over the country�s preparedness to start the first phase of commercial production of oil from Jubilee Field in the last quarter of the year. The issue has to do with Oil and Gas Draft Bill which is yet to be placed before Parliament for passage into law to pave the way for oil production to commence as planned. This came to light in Accra on Saturday at a capacity building workshop on �Good governance in oil and Gas� organized by the Canadian High Commission for a team of journalists. While Dr Joe Adjei, Minister of energy was optimistic that commercial production at the Jubilee Field would commence as schedules, Dr Anthony Osei Akoto, Minority Spokesman on Finance, was doubtful, saying that production could not commence without the necessary legislative framework in place. The MP for Old Tafo said Members of Parliament had not yet seen the draft bill and were worried over the delay in putting the necessary legislative framework in place. He said the bill will be subjected to critical scrutiny when placed before Parliament stressing, �We are not going to rush it through, we must understand it well�. Dr Osei-Akoto explained that judging from the calendar of Parliament, he was doubtful it the bill could be passed in time to meet the planned production of oil from the Jubilee Field in the last quarter of the year. The Minority spokesman on Finance said he was again doubtful whether the planned regional stakeholders consultative meeting for public input would be concluded in time for the bill to be sent back to Cabinet for consideration before being placed in Parliament for debate and approval. Dr Osei Akoto, a former Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning, said there was not much information to assure Members of Parliament that the country was ready for the planned production date. He explained that the current laws on oil production and the current fiscal regime were not adequate to guide the country. Dr. Akoto-Osei said there was nothing in the 2010 budget to show that �we are expecting oil revenue in 2010� adding, �all these, put together, raise doubts as to whether production will start in the last quarter of 2010�. On his part, however, Dr Oteng-Adjei, said he was optimistic that the draft bill would be placed before Parliament when it reconvened in May. The House is scheduled to rise next month. The energy Minister explained that the bill would be thoroughly considered to ensure that �it is 90 per cent robust before it is placed before parliament� by which time there would be less work to be done on it.Ghana is on the verge of becoming an oil producing country in the last quarter of 2010 when, under phase one of the Jubilee field 120,000 barrels of oil a day and 20mm standard cubic feet of gas per day would be produced. It is estimated that the recoverable reserves of oil in the Jubilee Field is 800 million barrels with 90 per cent probability. The reserve has an estimated total revenue to government and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation in respect of royalties, income tax and interest payment of one billion dollars at an average crude oil price of 60 dollars per barrel.