A ministerial committee established to probe...the spillage of toxic substances into the country’s oil fields by...Kosmos Energy, has slapped a punitive fine of GH¢40m or ¢400bn on the company. Within five months, Kosmos spilled a total of 699 barrels of Versaclean, a type of drilling fluid or oil based mud, which contains poisonous heavy metals, on three occasions. The committee’s investigations concluded that the company was ‘negligent’ as far as the spillages were concerned. With regard to the first spillage, Kosmos admitted that the supervision and management of the drilling operations were poor and weak respectively. Instead of the company ensuring that such devastating incident does not recur, Kosmos deferred their planned maintenance for some months, a major reason that caused the second spill in March, this year...Kosmos blamed the third incident on mechanical fault...Meanwhile, industry watchers...urged government to remain unyielding in its punishment against Kosmos, to serve as a deterrent to oil companies...as well as mining companies in the country.