Ghana's Energy Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has asked investors in the United Kingdom to choose Ghana as their preferred destination for the oil and gas business.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, Dr Prempeh, together with the Ghanaian officials, held strategic meetings with investors at various levels.

Key among these engagements is the one with the Scottish-Africa Business Association in partnership with the global Underwater Hub.

Dr Prempeh said investors can enter into Ghana’s oil and gas space through competitive bidding, direct negotiation and also farm-in into existing contracts.

He said contractors such as Tullow, Eni and Kosmos are already in production in Ghana and, thus, their continuing presence in Ghana is a clear signal to investors to take advantage of the opportunities being offered by this Road Show to snap up the available opportunities being offered.

The minister said currently, there are 12 operators with petroleum agreements in over 14 contract areas and these operators are at varying stages of their respective agreements (Exploration, Appraisal, Pre-development & Production).

“Ghana is touted worldwide as a peaceful and democratic country. The performance of Ghana’s upstream petroleum sector since the Jubilee Field discovery and first oil in 2010 is unassailable. I assure all IOCs, especially those present here of Ghana’s readiness to preserve this enviable record,” he said.

He continued: “My aim is to attract IOCs with the requisite technical competencies and financial capacities to partner with Ghana to undertake E&P activities in respect of farm-in opportunities for two of the available blocks and E&P opportunities through direct negotiation for the three remaining blocks.”

Dr Prempeh further assured that existing seismic data, well data and related reports of these blocks are available for further analyses.

He said the Petroleum Commission stores all the relevant petroleum data and stands ready to organise data room visits for investors and also facilitate the licensing of data.

This 2022 oil and gas roadshow according to the Energy Minister who is also MP for Manhyia South, is critical to ensuring that there is an increase in national hydrocarbon reserves to ramp up Ghana's production profile for sustained macroeconomic growth and development.