The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), on Wednesday renewed government’s agreement with Vanco Ghana Limited and LUKOIL Overseas Ghana Limited to continue to explore oil in the Cape Three Points deepwater block in the Central Region.This new agreement signed in Accra, was to replace the country’s already existing petroleum agreement with the two companies, which would expire at the end of April this year.Mr Moses Oduro Boateng, Managing Director of GNPC said apart from providing the GNPC with significant commercial benefits such as royalty and increased participation, the new agreement also gave the ownership of Associated Gas to the country. He said LUKOIL held 56.66 per cent participating interest in the exploration whilst Vanco Ghana Limited held 28.34 per cent participating interest and the remaining 15 per cent going to the GNPC with the option to acquire an additional five per cent in any commercial discovery.The Cape Three Points deepwater block encompasses an area of 5,142 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 200 to 3,000 meters in the Tano Basin.Dr Joe Oteng Adjei, Minister for Energy called on the companies to abide by the country’s environmental laws to ensure that the environment was not damaged. He called on them to be transparent in their operations to ensure that the residents did not feel they were being cheated.He also stressed the need for the companies to engage more local hands in their operations to enable them benefit from the industry.Mr Gene Van Dyke, President of the Vanco Ghana Limited was hopeful of a significant discovery. He thanked the GNPC for renewing the agreement to continue the aggressive exploration of the basin.Source: GNA