Ghana begins pumping oil for first time

[pampango]

Source: BBC

The West African nation of Ghana has begun to pump its first commercial oil after the discovery of the offshore Jubilee Field three years ago. A consortium led by UK-based Tullow Oil hopes to produce 55,000 barrels per day, increasing to 120,000 barrels in six months.

The discovery of oil off Ghana's coast has raised questions about whether Ghana can escape the "resource curse", where discoveries of valuable commodities fuel conflict and corruption instead of funding development. ...lessons can be learnt from others' mistakes and points out that Ghana's economy is more diversified than other oil-producing countries in Africa. It earns billions from cocoa and gold.

"The oil revenues expected only represents 6% of their economy - compare that to Nigeria where oil revenue represents 92% of the economy or Angola where it's almost 100%," he said.

The Jubilee Field is estimated to hold 1.5bn barrels of oil. A second offshore field was discovered in September that is believed to hold another 1.4bn barrels. The fields are some of the largest oil deposits found in recent years.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11996983

[Democracyinkind]

1. I bet the people of Ghana will all become rich and happy now

One would think that sitting one of the most sought-after commodities on earth would be beneficial to the people living there.... But...

http://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Oil-Worlds-Powerful-Industry/dp/0061434507

[CJvR]

2. National cocaine.

Feels great at first, but you can't stop and eventually it will kill you.
Well let's hope Ghana have enough stability not to get hooked.

[Jkid]

13. The Devil's Tears...

[bullwinkle428]

3. I smell a liberation coming on!

[classysassy]

9. The invading armies are poised to strike

Which European country will lead the attack? B.P. aided by the British army will recoup their loses in the gulf.

[One Fly]

4. Reality

This will not trickle down to the little people and funds will be stolen-that's just the way things work in West Africa.

It's over 40 miles offshore-I found that interesting.

[nyy1998]

5. Ghana is one of the better-run African countries, if there was a country to break the

resource curse, I'd bet on them.

[paparush]

6. The bombers launch in ten minutes. nt

[Atypical Liberal]

7. Resource Curse

Of course they won't escape the resource curse.

Tapping these resources takes a huge capital outlay. That means people with money and power have to come in and extract the resource. Those people will make sure that the resource mostly benefits them. Oh, there might be a few jobs for roughnecks or miners or other slave-like workers, but the bulk of the proceeds will go to a few.

[AlphaCentauri]

8. more cheap oil n/t

[KamaAina]

10. Now we have an excuse to invade them

apparently the disasters in the last two World Cups weren't enough. :sarcasm:

[Terry in Austin]

11. A few more drops in the bucket

120 thousand barrels per day is nice for the Ghanian ownership and colonizing classes, but it doesn't have much of an impact on the worldwide oil situation, where demand is 86 million bpd.

[GearHeadTheStalker]

12. RE: Ghana begins pumping oil for first time

I am crying for Ghana. Yet another developing nation that will be raped by the greed of the West. These people should be left alone to live without being exploited for their natural resources.