Significant progress made by the government in gas infrastructure will ensure the full utilisation of the country’s indigenous gas, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the Deputy Minister of Energy has said.
He said the infrastructure included the completion of phase one of the Takoradi-Tema Interconnection project, which would allow the country to flow up to 60 MMscfd of Ghanaian gas from the West to the East.
Another infrastructure, he said, was the successful completion of the relocation of the Karpowership from Tema to Takoradi with other accompanying infrastructure such as 330V power transmission line and a 10 kilometre gas pipeline to allow switching from Heavy Fuel Oil for powership and saving about 100million dollars per annum in fuel costs.
Dr Amin Adam was speaking on Tuesday at the Ghana Gas Forum 2019 on the theme: “Promoting dynamic policy towards the optimisation of regional gas resources” organised by the Ghana Gas Consortium.
The Minister said there was, however, the need to develop different infrastructure options to diversify gas transportation and ensure security of supply.
He urged the West African Gas Pipeline Company to consider changing its business model and to begin trade in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), taking advantage of various LNG terminals to be built across West Africa.
Dr Amin Adam said there was the need for stakeholders to consider the cost of projects and appropriately sequence them to ensure competitive pricing for downstream gas utilisation, adding that it would incentivise domestic demand to support industrialisation.
Mr Emmanuel U. Anyaeto, Managing Director, Integrated Gas and Energy Services, in a presentation, said palm oil was a great asset for the African continent but currently the continent averagely imported palm oil.
He said it was important for African governments to learn the lessons of palm oil towards maximising the profit that came with natural gas.
Mr Anyaeto said it was important for Africa to monetise natural gas because it had many components that could be sold separately to raise more revenue, adding that “never sell natural gas as a whole but sell them separately in components. He said diversifying the use of natural gas for industrial feedstock also has high potential to reduce the increasing unemployment rates in Africa.
Mr Charles Darku, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber (GUPC), said countries in West Africa ought to collaborate to create wealth for the entire region to avoid creating an island of wealth.
He said if that was achieved, it would reduce migration into Ghana by other neighbouring countries.—GNA
