Phase One of Ghana’s commercial crude oil production of 120,000 barrels a day would begin from the first quarter of year 2010, Mr Jim Musselman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kosmos Energy, has announced. The output, he said, would be increased to 250,000 barrels a day within the following two years and would involve a total investment of Five Billion dollars. Mr Musselman broke the news to President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, on Monday after a test run of one of the oil wells, “Jubilee Well”, at the Tano Basin. The test produced 5,000 barrels, a confirmation that the country indeed has commercially viable and world class oilfields. Obviously elated by the test result, the Kosmos CEO declared, “This is a good day, a wonderful day for me and Kosmos.” He stressed “that Ghana has oil is in fact, a reality, and the money spent, justified.” The Company, he said, was going to move as quickly as it could to ensure the pumping of the natural resource and repeated the appeal to the nation to remain patient as they went through the processes. Mr Musselman and his delegation, who used a projectile to show to President Kufuor, the flare of oil during the test, said what they did was to help them to determine the sort of facilities and production equipment the would require. President Kufuor described the day as “a great day” and said, he was impressed by the transparency showing through the relations between Kosmos and the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC) and asked that this should be sustained. “It should be a win-win for all.” The Government, he said was determined to make sure that the oil resource would become a blessing to the nation. He said the country was not going to allow itself to be intoxicated by the windfall. It was in the light of this that the necessary legal framework was being laid for the establishment of a Regulatory Authority to oversee the effective management of the expected revenue to the benefit of all Ghanaians. President Kufuor drew attention to the need to keep a close eye on the environment and counselled Kosmos to put social responsibility high on its agenda, saying; “The people must feel that the treasure is for them.” Kosmos Energy first made the announcement of oil discovery in the Tano Basin on June 18, 2007. Source: GNA