Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) said on Monday that it had lifted about one million barrels of crude oil from Equatorial Guinea under an agreement signed between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea last May.

The agreement, according to a statement issued by GNPC in Accra, was signed during the visit of President John Atta Mills to Equatorial Guinea between May 5 and 7.

The Crude Oil Sales/Purchase Contract was signed between the GNPC and Guinea Ecuatorial de Petroles (GEPetrole) on behalf of their respective countries.

The statement said the contract provided for an allocation of two million barrels of Zafiro Blend crude oil per year to Ghana. "GNPC effected the first lifting of about one million and fifty thousand barrels under the contract on the 31st of July, 2010," the statement said.