In Pursuit of Jubilee: A True Story of the First Major Oil Discovery in Ghana - Softcover

Owusu, George Y; M. Rutledge McCall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0997351977 ISBN 13: 9780997351972

Publisher: Avenue Lane Press, 2017

Synopsis

From co-author M. Rutledge McCall...

Ghana, a small, Third World African country located on beautiful Atlantic coastlines just north of the Equator, was called the Gold Coast until 1957, when she gained her independence from Great Britain. There was good reason for the name: the country's gold deposits were among the world's largest, putting her in a league with South Africa. Yet, as in South Africa, the billions of dollars earned from Ghana's gold trade did not improve the lives of her indigenous people.
 
By the cusp of the 21st Century, things had changed for Ghana. Times had become leaner, her natural resources less plentiful, her economy more precarious than ever. Her neighbors, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon, had been pumping crude oil in impressive quantities for decades. So, it would be natural to assume that oil must also exist in Ghana. Yet, from the late 1800s through the late 1900s, as many as 100 exploratory oil wells had been drilled off the coast of Ghana by oil firms such as Amoco, Texaco, Hess, and others, and not one had produced commercial quantities of petroleum. Even the government agency tasked with the discovery of oil during the administration of Jerry John Rawlings, the nation's longest-serving military leader and eventual President (leading Ghana from 1981 through 2000), was stumped. It was as if Ghana was an empty hole surrounded by oil producing nations.
 
What was Ghana's problem? Was the country technologically incapable of discovering a new natural resource with the potential to lift the nation out of poverty and provide a better lifestyle for her citizens? Where Ghana's leaders satisfied with her gold reserves and cocoa production, to the point where there was little motivation to invest in searching for a natural resource that experts suspected was there, given the numerous regional discoveries? Whatever the reason--politics, money, technology--fate seemed rigged against the beautiful country formerly called the Gold Coast, nestled on balmy shores reminiscent of a Caribbean paradise.
 
And so, near the dawn of the new millennium, during his campaign for the Presidency of Ghana, a challenge was announced by John Agyekum Kufuor: "Find oil in Ghana." In Pursuit of Jubilee is the story of George Yaw Owusu, an American businessman, born, raised and educated in Ghana, who rose to that challenge.
 
Yet, before a drop of oil could be pumped, a firestorm ensued when the government of Ghana launched a criminal investigation against Owusu. The country's fledgling oil industry was brought to the brink of chaos. Owusu's life would become a nightmare that would last for years. Even the nation's former President Kufuor would be swept into the scandal, causing him to declare, "I am almost tempted to believe it when people say that oil finds are a curse." The nation, Owusu's business partners, and even the United States Department of Justice, demanded to know: Did George Owusu give, or promise to give, the nation's president money in exchange for the oil exploration license? Did the president give, or promise to give, Owusu the license in exchange for money?

In Pursuit of Jubilee answers those questions, and tells why, during a time when economies around the world were collapsing, the government of Ghana relentlessly went after one of her favorite sons.

Perhaps Richard Dowden, author of the book Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, put it best when he wrote, "Maybe we should weep for Ghana - and insist that occasionally principles and people matter as much as petroleum."

About this title

About the Author

GEORGE YAW OWUSU is an environmental scientist who has worked in the petrochemical industry for three decades. He was Founding Partner of EO Group, which partnered with the fledgling Kosmos Energy to discover commercial quantities of oil in Ghana. He served as the Country Manager of Kosmos Energy for nearly a decade. The oil discovery was featured in the documentary "Big Men"; directed by Rachel Boynton (and executive-produced by Brad Pitt).
   Owusu is the founder of Mansa Capital, which engages in investment of private equity and debt in various projects in the US and West Africa. Owusu and his wife are actively involved in philanthropic endeavors focused on healthcare, education, and development in Ghana and in the US through the George and Angelina Owusu Foundation.

M. RUTLEDGE McCALL, who wrote the book as well as the screenplay adaptation, has written, ghostwritten or developmentally edited over 140 books for a high-profile worldwide clientele.
   The first book he wrote, titled Slipping Into Darkness: A True Story from the American Ghetto, was published in 2000 to critical acclaim and was optioned for film by David O. Sacks (Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer of PayPal). The updated 25th Anniversary Softcover Edition was released in 2025, along with the 30th Anniversary e-Book Version. McCall has sold other screen options in the years since.
   McCall has worked with authors whose books have appeared on the best-selling lists of the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, the Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and others He has been featured on TV shows including NBC Today, BBC News, PBS, CNN News, KNBC News Nightside Cover Story, PBS/KCET Life And Times: Thinkers, Shakers and Newsmakers, Larry King Live, ABC News 9 Australia, and others.

Owusu and McCall are currently exploring the production of a movie or miniseries version of the book, based on McCall's screen adaptation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Avenue Lane Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0997351977
• ISBN 13: 9780997351972
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 382