Figures from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s 2015 half- year report as revealed by the Public Interest Accountability Committee shows that the ongoing maritime boundary dispute with Ivory Coast is digging a huge hole in the revenues of the corporation.
The report shows that between January and June last year, the GNPC spent $2.11 million on the dispute ongoing in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, representing 25% of the company’s total allocation for exploration and equity financing for the year.
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The maritime dispute ensued in 2014 when Ghana hauled the Ivory Coast before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea over the latter’s claim of ownership of parts of the oil and gas-rich Cape Three Points.
The Chairman of the PIAC, Professor Paul Kingsley Buah Bassuah, asked in a media interview whether GNPC had parliamentary approval to make such expenditure.
“Did the event get approval to do that? I do not know and it will be good to find out,” he said.
“I think they were not supposed to do so because that money (their 2015 budget) was given to them for exploration and equity financing only for them to use to finance court expenditure. That is wrong,” he stressed.