Dateline: April 07, 2003 12:37:40
http://www.thisdayonline.com/news/20030407news07.html

GHANAIAN MINISTER BLAMES NIGERIAN OIL FIRM FOR MISSING VESSEL

From Josephine Lohor in Abuja with agency report


Ghana's Minister of Energy, Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah, has blamed a Nigerian oil company, Ocean and Oil, for the disappearance of a vessel, MV Asterias, carrying $2 million (about N 254 million) worth of crude oil.

But in a swift reaction, the Managing Director of Ocean and Oil, Mr. Paul Okolo, admitted that the company indeed impounded the vessel carrying about 74,000 barrels of crude oil because it was being owed about N1.9 million in arrears.

The vessel, which was carrying oil from one of Ghana's oil fields, was reported to have disappeared on March 28 from Ghana's territorial waters after an emergency call was received by officials of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

Although the Ghanaian authorities had initially blamed Lushann Eternit for the disappearance of the vessel, Ghana's Energy Minister, stated that the Nigerian partners, Ocean and Oil, who are technical partners, are being held responsible for the disappearance of the vessel. The ship was jointly owned by Lushann Eternit and the GNPC,

Lushann Eternit, while reacting to the development in an official statement, described the seizure of the vessel by the Nigerian technical partners as "illegal and in bad faith".

"We completely dissociate ourselves from this act and we condemn it," the statement said.

The Ghanaian authorities have contacted Interpol to help track down the vessel and its Russian crew.

Ocean and Oil is registered in the Isle of Man but has a Nigerian management. MV Asterias is registered in the United Kingdom and owned by a company called Ocean and Oil.

The Ghana state-owned GNPC and Lushann Eternit, jointly own the crude oil test production project in the Salt pond Oil fields in Western Ghana from where the vessel got missing.

Over the past three years, Ghana has increased its search for crude oil, which has led to exploration by international oil companies off the coast of the Volta Region in the east and off the Western shores.

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