Stakeholders in the energy sector have gathered at the Kempinski hotel in Accra, Thursday, January 18, 2018, for the signing ceremony of a new petroleum agreement between multinational oil and gas company Exxonmobil and the government of Ghana in the Deep Water Cape Three Points.

Officials of the Ministry of Energy led by the sector Minister Boakye Agyarko, CEO Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, KK Sarpong, CEO of the Petroleum Commission Egbert Faibille as well as officials of the American company, Pamela Darwin Vice President Exxonmobil, Africa are present for the momentous occasion. The US Ambassador Rob Jackson is also present to witness the signing ceremony.

CEO of GNPC Kofi Kodua Sarpong opens the ceremony which he describes as a "significant milestone" in the growth of Ghana’s oil and gas. He is proud to be signing an agreement granting Exxonmobil a license to explore and produce hydro carbons in the country. He applauds the efforts and hard work of the negotiating teams. He is convinced this agreement will ensure an optimization of potential returns for the good people of Ghana. He says a fourth party; an indigenous company will also sign an agreement to make it effective. "This agreement is innovative in addressing the shortcomings in previous agreements." He is excited to work with Exxonmobil assuring that GNPC will ensure a smooth operation of the agreement once it is ratified by Parliament.

ExxonMobil has been in Africa over 100 years. We are very much involved in working with local communities and look forward to this opportunity. We will share our technical expertise with the local community. It is the beginning of a long-term partnership between the parties. "We are super excited to being here."

He begins with three quotes one of which is from Henry Ford; "Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

He describes the deal as an important partnership between Exxonmobil and the government of Ghana. All parties involved have worked hard ahead of this momentous occasion.

The agreement continues the thread on the strides made over the last few years. The terms of the agreement are among the best. It is a cummulation of key lessons learnt over 10 years since the first discovery of oil in Ghana. He touts the credentials of ExxonMobil as a renowned oil and gas company with a huge oil resource base.

The company commands tremendous financial and human resource expertise with the best cutting-edge technology. Their presence presents an opportunity for skills transfer to the people of Ghana. He says ExxonMobil’s decision to invest resources in the deep wells is important. It comes after the final ruling of the ITLOS. It is the first agreement signed following this ruling.

The arrival of ExxonMobil, sends a positive message to the rest of the world that Ghana is ready for big business in the energy sector. He says the partnership will help in building an industrialized nation powered by a robust energy sector. He assures that after the fourth party, indigenous company signs the agreement we will proceed to Parliament for ratification.

The Ghana team is encouraged by the commitment of the Exxon to build local capacity; they have built state of the art infrastructure in other countries of operation and hope same will be done here.

The parties then sign the agreement which has ExxonMobil taking 80%, GNPC taking 15% and a yet to be named indegenous company taking 5%