The once resourceful Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is broke and looking for a bailout from the most unlikely source.
The state-owned oil firm which according to insiders, at the exit of Alex Mould as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has resorted to putting together a financial deal that will allow it to easily borrow from another state entity; the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to pay for the 7percent of the Jubilee and Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) producing fields.
In desperate need of cash, GNPC, has come up with a sleight of hand to avoid taking money out of its own coffers.
The Corporation, has been involved in certain reckless financial decisions since the advent of the Kofi Koduah Sarpong’s management, including buying a building property at Takoradi in which he had an interest according to documents The Herald, has sighted.
Some of the reckless expenditures, have been in the area of rentals and massive recruitment of ex-staff of the Royal Bank, where KK Sarpong, used to be board chairman, until it collapsed as a result of the banking sector clean up.
The list of former Royal Bankstaff, recruited into GNPC, includes Dr. Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, General Manager, Sustainability at GNPC said to be responsible for the social performance, Local content, and Corporate Affairs function of GNPC.
Same Dr. Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, had served KK Sarpong at Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club.
The revelation that the Corporation is going to borrow from the state revenue collector to buy the asset, has left many in total shock coming at a time GRA, has been complaining about shortfalls in revenue collection.
But according to the news portal African Intelligence, its sources revealed that Anadarko WTCP, has agreed to pay capital gains tax to the GRA.
The amount will then be transferred directly to GNPC as a loan to enable it to acquire its 7percent stake. GNPC, will pay back GRA with the proceeds from the crude oil sales.
African Intelligence, is a leading professional news portal specializing in political and economic developments on the continent reported on this Kosmos’ purchase of Occidental’s former Anadarko fields, has disclosed some interesting development behind the transaction which GNPC management has been bragging about.
It said that, after many months of negotiations, Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) finally announced on October13, 2021, the sale of its Ghanaian assets to Kosmos Energy and the state-owned GNPC.
However, the latter will have to pay $550m and $200m respectively for the acquisition of these offshore shares in the Jubilee and TEN fields. Oxy’s share of these fields is 22,000 bpd.
This validation comes a few days after Anadarko WCTP’s country manager, threatened to cancel the sale (AI, 13/10/21), saying he would stop all negotiations unless the Ghanaian government approved the deal by October 13.
Anadarko WCTP, has been owned by Oxy since 2019, when it acquired the US company Anadarko.
As was revealed by the Africa Intelligence on 24/09/21, Kosmos Energy, initiated the proposal to make available to the state, via GNPC, 7percent of the two assets in Jubilee and TEN.
One of the reasons for this move was to speed up the divestment process and persuade the Ghanaian government to approve it as soon as possible, although GNPC already owns 13.75percent of Jubileefileds.
According to African Intelligence, out of the desperate need of cash, GNPC came up with a sleight of hand to avoid taking money out of its own coffers.
“According to our sources, Anadarko WTCP has agreed to pay capital gains tax to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). The amount will then be transferred directly to GNPC as a loan to enable it to acquire its 7% stake. GNPC will pay back the GRA with the proceeds from the crude oil sales”.
It stated that “in 2020, when TotalEnergies was still bidding for Oxy’s assets, Ghana demanded $500m from the latter and Anadarko to approve the transaction (AI, 17/03/20). The size of the tax bill contributed to the collapse of the sale. The exact amount of the transfer tax set by the GRA to validate the sale to Kosmos Energy is not known”.
When Oxy acquired Anadarko WTCP in 2019, it did not have to pay tax to the GRA because it acquired the entire Anadarko company at the same time. The Ghanaian assets remained in the hands of Anadarko WTCP, which only changed its main shareholder.
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