The African Center for Energy Policy is accusing the deputy Energy and Petroleum Minister, Benjamin Dagadu, of a conflict of interest situation in the award of an oil block to A to Z Petroleum.

The policy group is therefore asking the president to launch an investigation into the circumstances under which the oil firm won the contract.

A to Z Petroleum is said to have won the bid to manage the oil block over several other well resourced companies, but the energy policy group claims Mr. Dagadu, until his appointment as Deputy Minister, was an employee of A to Z  Petroleum and therefore raises a conflict of interest situation.

Programmes Director of the Center, Benjamin Boakye, told Joy News' Elton John Brobbey the circumstances under which the contract was awarded cannot go unquestioned.

"The problem is that you have an oil block that has a lot of interest. A lot of companies are interested in. What is the ground for giving it to somebody, who has a link to the deputy minister.

"We do not see exceptional capacity of A to Z Petroleum that we cannot find in other companies [that] are also interested in the same block" Mr. Boakye noted.

He suspects A to Z Petroleum won the bid because of its connection with the ministry.

He therefore called for the suspension of the contract because "it is a clear case of conflict of interest."