Local communities engaged to track infractions in oil production

Civil society organizations are developing diverse mechanisms to promote transparency and accountability in the management of Ghana’s oil resource and environment.

Beginning July 2013, indigenes in six oil districts in the Western region will be engaged in a trial that offers an avenue to report back on activities in the oil fields, prioritizing issues of the environment.

US oil producer Kosmos Energy in 2010 spilled over 700 barrels of low toxicity oil substance at its drilling fields in West Cape Three Points.

A committee that looked into the environmental infraction recommended that the company pays a fine of $35 million to the government of Ghana. Kosmos however managed to negotiate its way out, capitalizing on weaknesses in Ghana’s oil and gas legal regime.

Presently there are fears of gas flaring at the Jubilee oil field – the delayed completion of the Ghana Gas Project means the oil producing companies may be compelled to flare gas beyond their operational limits.

“Even though we have a no gas flaring policy, there is so much gas that you can re-inject, the rest if you don’t want problems on the rig you have to flare them. So I believe that we are flaring more gas than we are being told because you can’t re-inject beyond a certain point”, observed Ishmael Edjekumhene, an environmental expert.

The practice of gas flaring is widely recognized as a waste of energy and an added load of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, with its environmental implications.

Ghana began commercial production of oil without strong exploration and production laws, which would protect the economy against resource curse.

Formulating a comprehensive oil response plan to counter any environmental hazard and other possible negative impacts of the oil business has become critical.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) framework on the oil and gas sector was developed with the view to managing environmental concerns relating to the country’s oil industry.

The purpose of the SEA is to have a holistic view of the offshore and onshore environmental effects that may arise as a result of the exploration and production of oil and gas resources.

But holding oil companies culpable when there are environmental breaches and damages require evidence based monitoring and reporting.

The World Bank is funding a community-driven pilot project to effectively monitor and track progress of oil production in Ghana.

Local communities, under the initiative, will be tooled to provide feedback for prompt action by regulatory authorities, including, the Petroleum Commission, the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the security agencies.

The mobile SMS platform is being implemented by the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment (KITE) in partnership with a Canadian organization.

Executive Director of KITE, Ishmael Edjekumhene, says people in local communities would be empowered through the ICT platform to play watchdog roles in safeguarding the extractive industry.

“The fisher folks have traditional knowledge; they have been on the sea for years, so when they see things they don’t like, they can tell something is amiss”, he acknowledged.

The project will empower the locals with the means to communicate feedback to the appropriate authorities.

Local NGO, Friends of the Nation (FoN) has already facilitated the formation of Community Environmental Monitoring and Advocacy Group (CEMAG) in the six coastal districts of the Western Region to improve citizenry participation in petroleum governance.

Mr. Edjekumhene says this is the time for Ghana to stay on the alert to promote transparency and accountability in Ghana’s resource and environmental management.

“We need to begin as a nation to do the checks and not wait till things have gone so bad before acting”, he stated.

Energy consultant, Dr. Joe Asamoah, has emphasized the need for data on the country’s oil and gas industry to be easily accessible for Ghanaians to appreciate the management of the resource.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh