The president arrived aboard a golden chopper at about 10:15 GMT wearing safety gear and blue overalls to open the valves in a televised ceremony at the 330-metre-long floating platform some 40 miles (60 km) off the country's Atlantic coast.

Also present at the occasion is the two former presents of Ghana, presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufour.

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Initial production of around 120,000 barrels a day will rank Ghana as sub-Saharan Africa's seventh largest producer, with output set to double within three years.

Wednesday’s symbolic gesture will place Ghana among African countries in the petroleum club, including Libya, with reserves of 39.1 billion barrels; Nigeria with 35.9 billion barrels, and Algeria with 11.4 billion barrels. The rest are Egypt, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.



Apart from the discovery of oil in Ghana’s Jubilee Fields with the potential to produce 1.8 billion barrels, several discoveries have been made elsewhere by Tullow Oil and others such as Kosmos within the past three years, heightening international interest in the Ghanaian economy.

Subsequent to the initial discovery of oil, estimated in the region of 800 million barrels, in the deepwater Tano block at Cape Three Points by the London-based Tullow Oil on September 14, 2010, an estimated 400 million barrels of oil was found a little over two months ago, with a further potential of between 70 million and 550 million barrels located in the Owo Fields.

Against this background, the country could be said to be floating on a sea of black gold, with the discovery of more oil fields which are expected to produce billions of cubic metres of natural gas for export and for domestic use.

Following these discoveries, many countries which depend on oil for the sustenance of their manufacturing and industrial concerns, especially those in the developed world, had, over the past two years, inched closer to the political administration of the country, with the view to obtaining regular and uninterrupted supply of oil from Ghana. And many of those countries will be represented at Wednesday’s inaugural event.




Ahead of the ceremony, the commercial installation of oil rigs and pipes which will carry the crude oil to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, brought from Singapore to facilitate its refinement into ships for export, is already in place for the smooth take-off.

Parliament has adopted a blueprint to regulate the operations of the oil companies, ensure the judicious disbursement of revenue accruing from the export of oil and also protect the environment.

The security agencies have also instituted measures aimed at monitoring, detecting, deterring and preventing criminal activities in the production areas.

To beef up the security operations, the government has procured speed boats from the USA and initiated moves to acquire more from China, Germany and South Korea for the Ghana Navy.

Cost of living in the region

Most residents are sceptic on how the oil revenue could change the lives. The residents are rather worried over the high rent charges as well as high prices of goods and services. They also fear that crime could increase as the country start productions.

Residents tell AfricaNews that life in the Western region have become unbearable due to the oil find and can no longer sustain their lives if nothing is done about it.
The Western region (Ghana’s oil region) is one of the least developed regions in the West Africa country.

Quite recently the traditional rulers from all the districts of that part of the country demanded the central government give the region 10 percent of the oil revenue in a move to bring development to the region but that petition was ignored by the country’s parliament explaining the move is not sustainable.

The once very serene region is fast becoming very chaotic with its associated traffic jams. This the residents say have also added up to the already worrying situations in that part of the country.