Ghana president names new head of state oil company

ACCRA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Ghana's president, John Dramani Mahama, has named finance and energy specialist Alexander Mould as head of the state-run Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), an official said on Thursday.

The appointment of Mould, who was director of downstream regulator National Petroleum Authority, takes immediate effect, Energy Ministry spokesman Edward Bawa said.

Mould replaces Nana Asafu-Adjaye, who served for five years as managing director of the GNPC, which holds a 13.6 percent stake in the West African nation's flagship Jubilee offshore field. No reasons were given for Asafu-Adjaye's departure.

Ghana became an oil producer in December 2010 with reserves at the Jubilee field estimated at up to 1 billion barrels. It expects full-year 2013 production of 95,000 barrels per day.

Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) , Kosmos Energy (NYSE: KOS - news) and Anadarko Petroleum are some of the other partners at the Jubilee field.

Between 1985 and 1994 Mould was an adviser at the GNPC in charge of marketing. He had previously worked at Standard Chartered Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland in New York.