Iran’s Minister of Petroleum, Bijan Zangeneh (photo), has said that his country is eager to develop relations and export crude oil as well as petroleum products to Ghana.

This is coming after the conclusion of a meeting with Ghana’s Minister of Petroleum Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah in Tehran. Zangeneh said the two countries have prepared a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will be sign soon.

“Ghana produces a little amount of crude oil, has not tapped much of its reserves and is yet to exploit its resources,” Zangeneh told Farsnews.

He added that a delegation from Iran will be sent to assist Ghana in the downstream, refining and distribution network sectors.

“They [Ghana] have also called for training their human forces by Iran and the two countries will cooperate in this field as well. We are keen on enhancing our ties with Ghana,” he added.

Meanwhile the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has revealed that the country’s oil production will reach 500,000 bpd in 2020.

Speaking at business forum in Iran, Mahama said other finds by companies including ENI will boost Ghana’s production of oil and gas considerably.

“We currently are producing 120,000 barrels of oil a day. That is from the Jubilee field. If you add all the additional discoveries that have been made that includes ENI, Greater Jubilee… Ghana’s potential by 2020 will hit about half a million barrels of oil production a day,” he said.

Anita Fatunji