Regulation to guide petroleum exploration underway
The Petroleum Commission is developing a regulation and its accompanying guidelines that will govern data management in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry.
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Known as the Petroleum Exploration and Production Data Management Regulations, the regulation and guidelines would specify the formats, contents and standards required for the preparation and submission of various data related to the sector.
For ease of compliance with the provisions of the regulations, the guidelines being developed would provide directions to players in the industry.
Data is key
At a stakeholders’ consultation meeting on the data management regulations, the Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Mr Theo Ahwireng, said data was a key component in the upstream activities of the industry.
"A data set allows you to make a prediction of what is likely to be on the ground, since nobody wants to go out there and start drilling holes wildly. You would need some preliminary data that will cut down the risk in finding the resource," he said.
For this reason, he said, the formulation of the regulation started in 2012 in collaboration with stakeholders such as the Ministry of Petroleum, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and consultants from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
He indicated further that the regulation, which was still in a draft stage, was being developed to become consistent with national and internationally recognised standards.
He said considering that there were different types of data, including geophysical, geological and engineering, the regulation would go to direct the format, contents and standards required for the preparation and submission of various data.
Ensuring efficient exploitation
According to him, the regulation had become necessary in order to bring about efficient exploitation of the country's hydrocarbon resource. He said although some data existed, having more data would push the industry forward.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission said his outfit was ready to take the intended regulation to the next stage and expressed the hope that it would be approved by Parliament when it was ready. That, he said, would pave the way for maximisation of benefits that were derived from the exploitation of petroleum resources.
Way forward
A geophysicist at the Petroleum Commission, Mr Edem Wordi, who shed some light on the upcoming regulation, said the commission was entrusted to receive and store data on petroleum, manage a national data repository and at the request of the minister of petroleum, conduct reconnaissance survey, as well as acquire data.
He said the regulation would highlight areas such as exploration activities, drilling and well activities, classification and designation and development, as well as production.
Mr Wordi said the data management regulations and guidelines were expected to be finalised soon, after which they would be passed on to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislation and finally submitted to the Ministry of Petroleum and put into effect by Parliament.