CSOs call for disclosure of ‘beneficial owners’ in licensing rounds for oil blocks
The Civil Society Bid and Licensing Round Monitoring Group – an alliance CSOs working on extractives, anti-corruption and good governance – is demanding for the disclosure of beneficial owners of oil companies involved in the country’s competitive oil bidding and licensing process.
According to the Group, the disclosure of beneficial ownership in the licensing period particularly during the pre-qualification stage will allow for citizens to monitor the bidding process and to identify politically exposed persons in the contract process.
The call by the Group forms part of its recommendations to government contained in a report on the country’s first-ever oil bidding and licensing round which took place in 2018 and through 2019 to 2020, leading to the award of blocks and commencement of negotiations for the grant of petroleum agreements to successful bidders in 2019/2020
The recommendations made by the group in the report include ;
- Government must start issuing reconnaissance licences to gather quality data to aid future bidding rounds. The cost for such an activity will be recovered from data fees during competitive tendering. Liberia used this approach to acquire data which enabled them to carry out competitive tendering.
- Government must publish disaggregated information on bidders and the respective blocks they are prequalified for.
- Government must ensure that direct negotiations are done only where peculiarities that point to a special company to optimise their sources are established.
- Government must make deliberate efforts to engage the public beyond the requirement of the law. It is recommended that such engagements must have feedback systems to encourage citizens to share information that might be relevant for the licensing round and by extension,the national interest.
The interest in Ghana’s oil fields increased significantly after the commercial discovery of oil in 2007 and subsequent production in 2010. 14 oil blocks were then allocated to 14 oil companies between 2010 and 2014 for exploration.
The allocation process however employed direct negotiations, which was no different from what existed before oil discovery under PNDC Law 84. That non-competitive process accorded wide discretion to officials, and the14 companies licensed under this regime failed to deliver on their work obligations for lack of financial and technical competencies.
To change this trend, public advocacy on the need for transparency and internalisation of international open contracting principles were championed by local civil society organisations (CSOs).
Ghana’s first licensing round was officially launched in October 2018 to give effect to the open contracting provisions of Act 919. For the 2018/2019 licensing round, six oil blocks were planned to be awarded; three were allotted for competitive tendering, two for direct negotiation and one for the national oil company.
