Deputy Energy Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has told investors Ghana’s petroleum fiscal regime is investor-friendly and offers higher returns to investors and urged them to take advantage of the favourable petroleum market environment.

Speaking at an investment forum on the side-lines of this year's Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Texas, USA, where the world's elite energy professionals met, Dr Adam said, “our petroleum fiscal regime is investor-friendly offering higher returns to investors, the licensing regime is transparent, and provides investor certainty and flexibility.”

He mentioned that Ghana was aspiring to become a hub for refined petroleum products and petrochemicals in the West African sub-region. There were numerous petroleum downstream opportunities available for grab.

“Government has therefore designated a free zone area for the development of petroleum and petrochemical refineries, storage, and transportation facilities for the export of products to largely African markets. This requires collaboration with the private sector to achieve the objectives of the Hub,” he emphasized.

The Deputy Minister of Energy stated government established the Ghana Petroleum Hub Corporation which was necessitated by investors’ demands for the removal of ‘regulatory fatigue, red tapes and long lead times in project development’.

That, he said, was to facilitate the issuance of permits and licenses to potential investors “and to play a rapid response role in addressing the challenges investors encounter in delivering on projects.”

In a related development, Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam in a brief ceremony, officially opened Ghana's pavilion at the OTC, at the NRG Park in Houston Texas.

The OTC, an annual event, provides energy professionals with the opportunity to meet to exchange ideas and opinions to advance scientific and technical knowledge for offshore resources and environmental matters and has expanded technically and globally with the Arctic Technology Conference, OTC Brasil, and OTC Asia.