Energy think tank, Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), wants plans to relocate the headquarters of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to be shelved.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko, proposed during the Joy FM Ballot Box, that the GNPC will be relocated from Tema in Accra to the Western Region when the NPP comes to power.

The MP said the relocation will form part of a complete decentralisation of the oil sector to boost employment.

President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo recently lent credence to the proposal during a visit to the Western Region House of Chiefs.

“The commitments that we have made are commitments that are going to be fulfilled. 

"We are going to relocate the headquarters of GNPC to this region,” Akufo-Addo had said.

However, speaking at a media interaction in Accra, the Head of Policy Unit of ACEP, Dr Ishmael Ackah, said the decision does not seem well thought through.

His view is that the relocation will make the work of policy makers difficult since oil exploration could commence in other parts of the country, citing the Volta Region as most likely to start oil exploration soon.

“So are we going to shift GNPC from the Western Region to the Volta Region? 

"We can maintain GNPC here and rather open a subsidiary office probably for operations in the Western Region. What we can also suggest is that instead of GNPC, we can rather move Petroleum Commission which is the regulator to the Western Region,” he said.