Ghana, the first country in sub-sahara Africa to gain independence from the British, is well administered by regional standards and is seen as a model for economic and political reform in Africa according to BBC news Africa.
It discovered oil(offshore) and announced it in June 2007. And as such would be faced with some problems as well as derive benefits in its explorations and production.
Crude oil, being one of the most important raw materials, occurs naturally as oily bituminous liquid and are composed of various organic chemicals and is also found in large quantities beneath the earth surface.
It discovered oil(offshore) and announced it in June 2007. And as such would be faced with some problems as well as derive benefits in its explorations and production.
Crude oil, being one of the most important raw materials, occurs naturally as oily bituminous liquid and are composed of various organic chemicals and is also found in large quantities beneath the earth surface.
information from the Britain Petroleum Statistical Review of World Energy in June 1995 stated that the world primary energy consumption in 1994 stood nearly 8000 million tonnes of oil equivalents, with oil and gas being 63% of world energy supply, coal-27% of world energy supply, nuclear energy-7% and hydro-electric power being 3% of the world energy supply. This obviously shows that oil and gas is the most widely used source of energy. Research from the central intelligence agency has also showed that the country's oil production is 8,880 bbl/day (2010 est.) and country comparison to the world is 87, its consumption is 60,000 bbl/day (2010 est.) with exports of 5,752 bbl/day (2009 est.) and imports of 68,830 bbl/day (2009 est.) yet has proved reserves of 660 million bbl (1 January 2011 est.)
Ghana,one of four west African countries with an oil refinery has a state oil company "Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (G.N.P.C) which is responsible for the procurement, storage and bulk distribution of petroleum products to the oil marketing companies who thereby supply the final consumers with the derivatives.
The oil industry is the key to a successive economy if properly handled. However, it has some adverse effect on our environment in its operations. The state company of the country is a sub-body of the ministry of mines and energy and has the responsibility of controlling the industry.
The industry includes the global process of explorations, extraction, refining,transporting(often by oil tankers and pipelines)and marketing the products and in turn would need labour in its endeavour and would definitely employ all the resources, deploy the available technology in making its objectives a successful one.
More so, revenue is derived from the sale of these products to the market. The country being able to handle and control its operation effectively and efficiently will enhance exportation of some of the products which will obviously bring foreign exchange hence revenue to the government. this revenue would in turn be used for developmental projects in the country for the destitute to also have access to some amenities.
The discovery of the oil will aid in the development of remote areas where the industries are found. The industry will provide some of the social amenities like schools, good hospitals, good roads to help and motivate workers to bring out their best to develop the country as a whole.
Furthermore, the discovery of oil in Ghana will drastically reduce the over dependence on the hydro-electric power.Technological research will aid tap what we need for our source of energy. Since the by-products are widely used by so many equipments.
Also, some of these derivatives can be used in producing pharmaceutical products, fertilisers, pesticides and plastics which will aid in other field of work. For instance fertiliser maybe applied to farms to produce good yield which will then be used in feeding the nation thus indirectly reducing the rate of importation of goods to save our capital for future use.
Yet, we may encounter the problem of spills, oil spill to be precise which may crop up as a consequently to transporting it from one port to another with tankers that have leakages which is detrimental to aquatic habitat. When an oil spill occurs on the sea, the aquatic animals stands the risk of being clogged with oil leaving them on shores and not able to fly or search for feed and they eventually die. These dangers does not include the aquatic animals but humans as well as other terrestrial habitat.
However, the activities of the industry has an adverse impart on our environment as stated earlier on by emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere enhancing global warming.From statistics a total of 21.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide is produced every year through the processing of the crude oil.This happens when the pollutant released by burning the crude oil to obtain the derivatives such as the petrol, gas and other chemicals destroys the ozone layer which protects living organism from excessive radiation from the sun and finally increase the temperature and consequently causing drought, ice melts and famine.
Lastly, the activities involved in this industry is very expensive and time intensive job. In such situation time and money have to be put into it to run it efficiently. This time and money could as well as be used on other projects.
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