Jubilee Oil Field

Since the discovery of oil in 2007, the administrators placed the importance of transparency and accountability in the management of the oil sector and revenues. It ensures value for money for contracts, allows citizens to monitor contract executions and prevents corruption among others. [5] The grade given was a B.

Ghana's Petroleum law put the power to regulate petroleum operations to the Minister. The Minister has however relied on the technical expertise of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to perform this function. As a result, some misunderstanding regarding the role of the GNPC and thereby raised issues of conflict of interest in the GNPC‘s functions. The independent regulation will continue to be problematic because of technical capacity problems usually faced by new oil producers, lack of appropriate logistics and equipment, financial dependence on the government and possible political party patronage from the governing board of the Petroleum Commission.[5] The grade given was a D.

A transparent and competitive licensing and contracting processing in the oil and gas sector to properly start the operation of offshore drilling. As little progress was made since demands for a moratorium on new explorations licenses were ignored and closed door negotiations continued. This resulted in 41 companies expressed their interest in Ghana's new oil production which would increase revenue to the country.[5] Members of Parliament in both the majority and minority have complained that votes have taken place without all members having access to the full agreement, which led to Conflicting evidence of parliamentary engagement in approval of oil agreements.[5] The grade given was a D.

Most of the negative environmental consequences of oil industry activities are localized and more intense in the areas of primary activities, but each round of environment degrading activity tends to increase the incidence of poverty among vulnerable groups such as fishermen and their dependents. This also escalated the exploitation of existing natural resources such as pollution of major fishing waters leads to massive exploitation of marginal fishing waters. [5] This led to a vicious cycled relationship between the environmental degradation and poverty incidence as fishermen did not receive any compensation from oil companies. the call on government to establish an inclusive process to manage the conflicting use of the sea and the development of clear regulations on compensations has received very little attention. A study, by Oxfam America in 2009 on the environmental material for the first phase of the Jubilee project, summaries the weaknesses in the assessment as incorrect classification of the Jubilee project as Category B, no complete ESIA, preconceived conclusions, second-hand, single hulled tanker, inadequate assessment of impacts on endangered species, critical habitats, dumping of drilling wastes into the sea, and lack of demonstration of compliance with international standards.[6] The grade given was a D.

The fishing industry in Ghana accounts for nearly 5% of GDP and supported up to 10% of the country's population which approximated 2 million people that were involved in localized catching, marketing and processing.[7] While there was no law obliging to accommodate any of the fishing industry in the event of a spill off the coast of Ghana. Therefore no compensation fund was set to give forth to fishermen in an event of a spill.[7] A law was passed where fishermen could not be in a 500-meter radius around Jubilee, which limits the fishermen.[7] Fishermen noticed an increase of tankers, shipping traffic, and risks of collision as more ballasts were being dumped into sea, resulting in pollution and less fish. [7]

On November 3, 2011, fishermen spotted a large oil slick floating towards land. The following day, oil sludge hit beaches of several fishing communities at Ghana’s Ahanta West District. [8] Tarballs, which are blobs of petroleum floating in the ocean, have been seen floating on the coast from Jubilee’s new drilling.[7] Pipelines running from offshore rigs can also worsen water quality. In addition, toxic waste brought from offshore drilling may pollute drinking water. The offshore drilling has also affected the biodiversity of the marine ecosystems. As fishermen have reported less fish being caught and seen which result in less revenue.[8] In 2009, it was reported that 8 dead whales washed ashore.[8]