Evidence of commercial oil drilling in Ghana in the latter parts of the 19th Century till the Second World War is abundant and clear at Boka Agloe, a small community in the Jomoro District in the Western Region. The Daily Graphic learnt during a visit to the area that drilling machines are still buried in the ground, with some still spewing oil, decades after an Englishman, remembered by a surviving local octogenarian as "Master Hayes", was said to have returned to his country because of the Second World War. There is also evidence of oil exports from the fields under the supervision of some Europeans and Ivorian migrants. But these rich histories of oil drilling and export activities seem to have been ignored as a potential site for oil exploration despite very observable evidence of more oil deposits in its fields. "We were collecting oil for him (Master Hayes) in large and small drums and they were exported by sea. We produced a lot of drums of oil in a day", Chief Osman, now 88 years old, told the Daily Graphic. According to Chief Osman, his father had started the business of oil exploration in his native Cote d'Ivoire with Master Hayes but after sometime, Mr Hayes asked them to migrate to the Gold Coast because according to Hayes, the oil was coming from the Gold Coast and hence greater oil deposits were likely to be found there. "My father then moved to the Gold Coast with the white man and settled first at Half Assini. When they got there the whiteman asked them to move to Old Kabenla Suazo where they were told that the land they wanted for their oil exploratory activities belonged to the people of Bonyere. So they went to see the chief of Bonyere and he agreed to allow them to stay there and conduct their activities. Master Hayes in return gave the chief of Bonyere a bottle of Schnapps and 12 pounds", Chief Osman recalled. According to Chief Osman, business was brisk and they , exported many drums of oil to Europe, until the Second World War compelled Mr Hayes to leave the country. "When he left, Mr Hayes blocked the main oil drilling machine and told my father to take good care of it until he returned after the war, but he never returned to the Gold Coast". The oil drilling machine is still at Boka Agloe but not functioning. Oil wells in the fields of Boka Agloe where volumes of oil were drawn for export continues to spew oil and according to the local people some people still come to collect oil and use them for their cars. While there is physical evidence that oil may be coming from an abandoned well believed to have been dug by an Englishman as far back as 1890, an official contacted at the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) maintained that the oil was from the ground and not from abandoned oil wells. "According to the local people over the years, a lot of individuals particularly, foreigners, had come over there to collect samples of the oil and said the most recent visit had been about a month ago. Confirming claims by Chief Osman, the District Chief Executive of the Jomoro District, Mr. Martin Ackah, said the area indeed had a history of oil drilling and exportation dating as far back as 1890. He said there had been some interest expressed by Petro Canada in the past and also indicated that the area was also on the map of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC). Asked why the area had been abandoned all these years since the last drilling in 1939, Mr Ackah said, currently, the focus of the government with regard to oil was directed to off shore activities. He however, added that government would definitely take a closer look at that area in the near future, stressing that considering the potential of the area, it could not be abandoned. He said the history of the area indicated that it was a place rich in oil deposits that could not be underestimated and said that confirmed that the country had oil deposits in commercial quantities. Mr Ackah stated that the country was well positioned for greater things to come, adding that it was just a matter of time for the true manifestation of the country's rich natural mineral and oil deposits. However, for inhabitants of Boka Agloe, Bonyere and Kablen Suazo, all in the Jomoro District, the blessing of oil deposits in the fields of Boka Agloe may turn out to be a curse, considering the large scale pollution of water bodies by the oil from the fields. River Domuli, which serves the three communities, is usually covered with films of oil that spew from the fields at Boka Agloe. A Daily Graphic team that visited Boka Agloe had to wade through oil polluted water at knee level, on a journey that lasted for about 30 minutes to the site of a narrow and circular well of about 0.5m diameter constructed with metal embankments. The well contained oil and it is believed that it has been producing oil for more than 100 years, ever since it was dug in 1890 and abandoned in 1939. A narrow stick of about 15 feet that was inserted in the well could not hit the bottom and according to local people who accompanied the Daily Graphic team to the well, it would take more than three of such sticks to get to the bottom of the well. The people in the three communities don't seem to be aware of the health implications of using water or eating fish from the polluted river. "The river has been providing us with fish all these years," Agya Anthony Kabenla, Caretaker of Old Kablen Suazo, told the Daily Graphic. But a petrochemical engineer Mr Ato Addo, who attended the recent Oil Conference in Accra, has sounded a caution note, highlighting the health implications of eating possibly contaminated fish from the river. He said when the fishes in the river became contaminated, they could end up being carcinogenic and said people who ate such fish could suffer serious health problems in the long term. "If the area had been given to a company, there is the need to ensure that they include proper abandonment of wells in their agreements to avert any danger for the country, especially those in that part of the country," he said. The people, he said, might be ignorant of the effects, but they needed to be protected, adding that since the exploration dated back to the 1890s, it was likely that there were no arrangements for proper sealing of the wells. The Western Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when contacted, said they were not aware of the oil deposits at Boka Agloe and the pollution of any water body there. The regional office said the issue was complete news to them but expressed interest in pursuing it to help address any environmental issue that might be threatening the lives of the people in those communities. According to them, the pollution of water bodies by oil could have serious health implications for the people in the communities that depended on the water bodies for fish and water, hence the need to address the issue with the urgency it required. Source: Daily Graphic