Jubilee Oil Holding Limited (JOHL) has again failed to pay proceeds amounting to over US$70 million from liftings into the petroleum holding fund for the first half of 2023.
This is the fourth consecutive time the company has reportedly not paid proceeds into the Petroleum Fund contrary to the advice of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.
This was disclosed in the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) semi-annual report which spanned the period of January to June 2023.
With this latest breach, the total amount of oil proceeds allegedly not paid by Jubilee Oil into the Petroleum Fund stands in excess of US$340 million dollars.
Chairman of PIAC, Professor Kwame Adom-Frimpong is calling for parliamentary intervention for the appropriate petroleum revenue laws to be applied.
“It has been a debatable area where it has been mentioned that the lifting funds are supposed to go to the Petroleum Holding Fund at the Bank of Ghana, but there are some counter-arguments. GNPC is giving its own argument, the Attorney General advises and then PIAC is also advised. PIAC, we are of the view that the money from JOHL still should go into the Bank of Ghana as part of the Petroleum Holding Fund. This year, we have gotten $70.4 million. It’s still not gone yet.”
“So if you add up all the money that has been obtained from lifting by the JOHL, it comes to $343.1 million dollars and our stand is that it should go, but contrary views are given. It’s a point where the debate will still continue. We report to Parliament, so Parliament should come out, and the matter will be concluded,” he said in a press engagement on Thursday, October 19, 2023.