Scores of climate activists, on Tuesday, stormed an ongoing Annual General Meeting of the British Oil Company, Shell, to protest oil exploration by the company.
The protesters in their numbers gathered at Shell’s venue of its Annual General Meeting in London, United Kingdom, chanting ‘Shame on Shell’, and singing ‘all we are saying, stop oil and gas, and ‘we will stop you’.
According to the live streaming by @XRUK_Live on Twitter, Shell’s AGM was put on hold as the protesters practically took over the venue.
There were reports on Monday that civil society organisations, comprising people of the Niger Delta Region, environmental activists, representatives of host oil and gas communities, human rights groups, students, youths, artisans and media practitioners, on Monday, held a rally at the office of Shell, Marina, in Lagos in Nigeria to protest against Shell.
They were asking that Shell should stop oil and gas extraction in Nigeria, and urged investors to stop funding Shell’s operations, owing to the environmental damage that the company’s operations were allegedly causing to the water, land and human resources in Nigeria.
They equally called for a limit of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level, and demanded, amongst others, an end to carbon emission.
They equally called for a people-centred transition from fossil fuel to clean energy in Nigeria as well as the clean-up of the Ogoni land and the entire Niger Delta Region.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s petroleum downstream regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has held a sensitisation workshop for commercial drivers to equip them with the requisite knowledge on petroleum pricing and quality.
The day’s event was on the back of the recent continuous hike in petroleum prices on the global market due to the rippling effect of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Speaking at the workshop, Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said the government has instituted several measures to ensure an adequate supply of petroleum products on the West African nation.
Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, CEO of NPA speaking at the workshop
“I have seen video of mates actually in fisticuffs with passengers. You are upset about petroleum price increases and so on…all of those things came to our attention, and it is a result of a lack of knowledge on how we arrive at these petroleum prices,” he said.
He said “we decided to organise this workshop so that you understand that, petroleum prices don’t go up and down depending on the mood of President Akufo-Addo or they don’t go up and down depending on the mood of the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority.
“It is important for us all as Ghanaians to understand how all these come about because now we all listen to the radio and we can see that there is a worldwide crisis…there is a crisis in Britain…there is a crisis in America of all proportion. I am sure most of you are shocked that America is now airlifting baby food from Germany,” he added.
Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority, Abass Tasunti, took the participants through the dynamics and what goes into petroleum pricing in Ghana.
He emphasised that the government has put in place several measures to ensure the country does not experience a shortage of petroleum products which is being experienced in oil-producing countries like Nigeria.
Mr. Tasunti mentioned the recent reduction of fuel margins, collaboration with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and intervention of the Bank of Ghana in the forex market has helped in cushioning the situation.
Some participants described the forum as beneficial and enlightening.
“This meeting is an eye-opener to us. We will go back and share the knowledge with our colleagues and return to further dialogue with the NPA,” one of the participants summarised.
They, however, called on the NPA to step up efforts in dealing with adulterated fuel from some filling stations in the country.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, described the workshop as timely.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Plc (IBEDC) in the Republic of Nigeria has joined the nation to celebrate ‘Our future, the Nigerian child’ as part of activities for the 2022 International Children’s Day celebration, by visiting several public schools within its network to create awareness of electrical safety.
The visits also coincided with the company’s safety sensitisation activities earmarked for the commemoration of the just concluded World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
A statement signed by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Engr John Ayodele, said the need to educate children on imbibing a positive health and safety culture should not be taken for granted.
He said cultivating the lessons on how to maintain safety around electricity early would not only save their lives but also forestall lifelong injuries.
“We are strategically embarking on these sensitisation visits of some public schools across our franchise to equip children with the safety skill set that will change their orientation about electricity safety and make them act proactively because as we know, prevention is better than cure. IBEDC, as a socially responsible corporate entity with education at the core of its CSR thrust, then decided that, in addition to our annual donation of school materials and fees to some indigent students, will leverage the Children’s Day celebration as a platform to teach children on safety,” Engr Ayodele said.
Speaking further, Engr Ayodele said IBEDC is committed to upholding global safety standards, as well as sustaining the health and safety culture the company has built over the years through continuous internal endeavours and collaborations with external safety agencies.
“It is against this backdrop that we organised various programmes aimed at institutionalising the safety culture within our business and the people we serve, namely Essay Competition, 1st Responder training, Technical workshop and colloquium, courtesy visits to critical stakeholders etc., to commemorate the 2022 World Day for Safety and Health at Work. This is to further position us for the safety challenges and best practices of the 21st century.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, is facing several court cases which could result in the payment of about Ghs106,810,500.00(US$13,522,209.30) to litigants.
According to GRIDCo, these claims could result in project delays across the country, thereby, affecting their ability to meet statutory objectives.
GRIDCo revealed this in the Multi-Year Major Tariff Review 2022-2027 proposals submitted to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for consideration.
The company said it continues to face enormous legal challenges concerning claims for the payment of compensation to Project Affected Persons (PAPs).
It added: “Cash flow issues related to the availability of funds to cover all aspects of project execution remains a major hurdle for project execution.”
In this regard, GRIDCo said, “When payment to PAPs is unavailable or inadequate, PAPs impacted by substation and transmission line projects across the country make substantial financial claims in courts and before statutory bodies such as the Commission for Human Rights & Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for the resolution of matters related to compensation payments.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s petroleum downstream regulator, NPA, has fined seven oil marketing companies to the tune of GHS1,550,000 million for various offences.
The seven companies are Moari Oil Co.Ltd, Rodo Oil Co. Ltd, MBA Global Ltd, Cigo Energy Ltd, Torrid Global Ltd, Naddif Co. Ltd and GAT Oil.
They were punished for engaging in Third Party Supplies, a practice which is considered illegal and unlawful lifting of petroleum products.
Besides, the Authority has also suspended Rodo Oil Co, MBA Global Ltd and GAT Oil for one month.
According to a statement issued by the Corporate Affairs Directorate of the Authority Moari, Oil Co. Ltd was fined GHS 50,000.00, Rodo Oil Co Ltd GHS 350,000.00, MBA Global Ltd GHS85,000.00 and Cigo Energy Ltd GHS 245,000.00.
The rest, namely Torrid Global Ltd was fined GHS 550,000.00, Naddif Co Ltd GHS150,000.00 and GHS120,000.00.
The NPA warned that any company that fails to comply with the rules and guidelines stipulated by the National Petroleum Authority would be subjected to appropriate sanctions.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has lost more than Gh¢26.7Million (US$3,380,220.00 ) in revenue since 2019 due to embedded power generation.
GRIDCo revealed this in its 2022-2027 tariff proposal submitted to the PURC.
In electrical terms, embedded generation is the production of electricity from power stations that are directly connected to a distribution network.
Justifying why PURC should approve its request for a 48 per cent increment in Transmission Service Charge, GRIDCo said since the last tariff review in 2019, some bulk customers connected to the National Interconnected Transmission System (NITS) have procured generation at their sites while others have indicated their intention to follow the same path.
It pointed out that as more customers embrace Embedded Generation (EG), the demand for service from the grid reduces significantly, leading to under-utilisation of transmission capacity.
The company mentioned BXC 20MW solar power in Gomoa Onyeadze near Winneba in the Central Region and Genser Energy’s 48MWe in Tarkwa in the Western Region as examples.
Explaining how embedded generation would affect the company, GRIDCo said, “A high penetration of Embedded Generation will result in stranded assets for GRIDCo, and lead to low returns on investments on such assets.”
It said further that in instances where EG becomes unavailable due to technical reasons, the immediate upsurge in demand may create instability in the NITS.
It, thus, recommended that embedded generation be adequately regulated to prevent such adverse impact on the NITS.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Kenya Power Company has urged Kisii County residents to protect power assets and has authorized personnel to do connections to reduce the number of illegal electricity connections that lead to electrocution and blackout cases.
Speaking during a meeting with Boda Boda operators on the outskirts of Kisii town, KPLC Customer Experience Department Representative, Hellen Mogire, stated that electricity transformers and conductors were being vandalised in the region, saying there was a need to protect them.
“Transformers are very expensive. It will take, at least, three months to replace a vandalised transformer once we justify it by writing a business case. You will be in the dark all that time,” Mogire added.
Mogire noted that KPLC fines customers up to Sh15,000 for vandalised low voltage conductors and Sh4,000 for stolen electricity meters that are sold to other residents for illegal connections.
She cautioned residents from contracting unauthorised people who walk around areas of residence doing electricity connections, adding that KPLC was conducting an operation to disconnect them.
“Make sure the electricity connection done at your homesteads is genuine. Those who do not have electricity should take application forms at our office and be connected to the last mile connectivity at a cheaper price,” she stated.
Further, she said that residents should ensure that quality cables are used to do wiring in their houses, saying radio cables were not meant to connect electricity from one house to another because they cause fire incidents.
She encouraged residents to use electricity as required to avoid injuries to family members, noting that Kisii County was among the leading counties where people have illegal connections.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, the entity responsible for operating and managing the West African nation’s National Interconnection Transmission System (NITS) has planned to invest US$990 million in several projects between 2023 and 2027 to ensure power transmission reliability.
Currently, GRIDCo has a total transmission network of about 6472.23 kilometres. Among the projects GRIDCo wants to undertake in the medium term to improve power reliability, minimise system interruptions, lower transmission losses and be able to meet increasing demand are Dunkwa Substation project, 3rd Kumasi Bulk Supply Point (BSP), Upgrading of 161kV Western Corridor Transmission Lines (Aboadze-Takoradi, Takoradi-Tarkwa, Tarkwa-New Tarkwa, New Tarkwa-Prestea, Bogoso-Dunkwa, Dunkwa-New Obuasi, Dunkwa-Ayanfuri, Ayanfuri-Asawinso, construction and upgrading of 161kV middle corridor transmission lines (Akosombo-Tafo, Tafo-Nkawkaw, Nkawkaw-Konongo, Konongo-Kumasi, 161kV Mallam to Pokuase (A4BSP) Transmission Line, 330kV Pokuase-Nkawkaw-Anwomaso Project (Transmission Line and Substation).
This is contained in the Multi-Year Major Tariff Review (2022-2027) proposals submitted to the country’s utility regulator Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for consideration.
Making a case for its demand for a 48 per cent increment in transmission service charge, GRIDCo stated that the “current tariff of 0.060398GHS/kWh does not adequately reflect the cost of GRIDCo’s operational activities.
“The tariff granted by PURC since July 2019 has depreciated in US Dollar terms from 1.0915 US Cents/kWh in 2019 to 0.8492 US Cent/kwh in March 2022 notwithstanding increases in Regulatory Asset Base over the years.”
It noted that the cost of maintaining the legacy assets and upgrading the transmission infrastructure to reduce congestions within the NITS have become increasingly expensive over the years. It said the objective underpinning its Tariff Proposal is to obtain a cost-reflective tariff that would enable GRIDCo to improve the service levels and quality thresholds, and importantly enhance the company’s sustainability.
“A cost-reflective transmission tariff will ensure a reliable and stable NITS which will restore confidence in Ghana’s power system for sustainable economic development,” GRIDCo said.
The power transmitter explained that should their proposed tariff be approved, they would be able to upgrade the existing low-capacity infrastructure to improve the power transfer capability of the NITS to eliminate congestion within transmission corridors as well as overloads at BSPs.
It said adequate redundancy would also be created to reliably meet the projected demand such that an outage of an element on the NITS would not result in a customer outage. To meet the increasing demand for power, GRIDCo said the construction of new lines, provision of higher capacity transformers to existing substations and development of new substations would enable GRIDCo meet increasing demand at a rate of 8-10 per cent per annum driven by economic growth.
According to GRIDCo, the implementation of the medium-term projects, siting generation facilities on the NITS close to load centres (especially Kumasi and the North), as well as optimising generation dispatch, would also enhance the transmission loss reduction to improve efficiency.
Speaking at the Public Hearing for the Multi-Year Major Tariff Review (2022-2027) in Accra, the Manager in charge of Strategy and Risk Compliance at GRIDCo, Samuel Kow Acquah, said that the company had not been able to get funding for their projects due to the low tariffs granted it by PURC at the last major review.
“We expect that the ministry will help us with policy directions on financing,” Mr Acquah suggested.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Independent Power Producer, Distributors and Bulk Consumers Dr. Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor urged PURC to consider and approve GRIDCo’s request for increment in its transmission service charge.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Federal Government of Nigeria is making effort to deliver two units of 330 kV power transmission substations in Katsina and Kano states along with the transmission lines to raise the power supply in the two states.
The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Dr. Sule Abdulaziz, disclosed this while inspecting the 330/132/33kV Katsina Substation project and the Rimi Zakaria Substation in Kano, at the instance of the Minister for Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, over the weekend.
Speaking at the Katsina Substation, Dr. Abdulaziz said the transformers and structures are in place at the Katsina Substation and that on completion, the substation would improve the transmission of bulk power supply to Daura, Dutsinma, Kankara and Malumfashi Substations in the state.
Dr. Sule Abdulaziz
“We are willing, and we want to ensure that we finish this substation within one year. We will also invite Mr President to commission the substation,” said Dr Abdulaziz.
The TCN head said that the transmission line that would bring bulk supply to the substation is from Kano and was earlier affected by the right of way issues.
“TCN and the government are collaborating on this, and processes have been completed and the contractor would be back to site and soon finish his work and we would be able to commission this substation,” he noted.
He noted that the substation facility has two units of 150MVA power transformers and two units of 60MVA power transformers.
The representative of the contractor of the Katsina project, Engr Mustapha Maihajjo lauded the current administration for fast-tracking the Katsina Substation project’s funding.
He said, “Since the coming of this administration, we have been able to procure about 95% of all the equipment requirements for this project,” noting that shipment of the materials was earlier delayed by COVID-19, but was now on the ground.
The Special Assistant on Power and Energy to the Katsina State Governor, Mansur Ahmed Musa commended the Katsina Mega Substation project. In his words: “We have waited for it for a long time and we cannot wait for it to be delivered. We believe that this project will be delivered timely as the contractor and the Managing Director of TCN promised.”
At the 132/33kV Kankia Substation where the materials for the 330kV Kano to Katsina Transmission Line are stored, the MD of TCN, Engr Abdulaziz said: “We are using part of the station as a storage facility for the materials the contractor is using for the construction of the 330KV transmission line from Kano to Katsina.”
Engr Abdulaziz also said the line was awarded around 2010, but the right of way issue in Kano affected the project execution.
According to him, “We have discussed with the Kano government. They have assisted us with paying for the land while TCN has concluded processes for the structures. So the contractor is now free to come to continue the construction of towers and eventually the lines. We want to make sure that within the one year remaining for this administration, we will be able to complete that transmission line so that Mr. President will commission the project.”
At the 330/132/33kV Rimini Zakaria Substation in Kano State, the MD said: “We started this project some years back and it has reached a very high level of completion. As you can see, the transformers, the switch gears, everything here is now almost 80% complete and this is the second 330kV Substation in Kano.
“Everybody knows that after Lagos in Nigeria, the next city is Kano, but it has just one 330kV substation which is not enough, this new substation will bring to two the number of 330kV substations in Kano. The substation, he said is almost 80% completed and the transmission line that will bring power to the substation is being executed, noting “that is why the Minister for Power, Engineer Abubakar D. Aliyu asked me to come for this visit to access the current state of project execution, to ensure the project is being executed properly.”
The MD explained that the substation also has two units of 150MVA transformers and two units of 60MVA transformers.
Also on clearing the transmission line right of way to the substation, Dr. Abdulaziz informed that the Kano State Government has paid for the land while TCN has concluded processes to pay for structures.
The government has also given land to relocate those whose lands were directly affected by the substation project, saying, “By the time we complete this project, the line to Katsina will start from here and will feed the 330/132/33kV Katsina Substation,” said the TCN boss.
Engr Dr. Abdulaziz also visited the 30MVA 132/33kV mobile transmission Substation Bichi, which was executed in-house by TCN engineers. The substation has been completed and will improve the bulk power requirement of the state waterworks, Bichi and environs.
Energy, Capital & Power spoke with Rogers Beall, CEO, Fortesa International Senegal about the role of gas power in supercharging African economic development, the role of domestic and European markets, pricing and future investment.
Please tell us your views on the role that gas power will play in the global energy transition?
Gas is essential for the transition as a fast-track mechanism and stepping stone to decarbonization, ensuring rapidly developable power supply that develops African economies. At a base level, it switches out heavy fuel oils, diesel fuel and coal as a lower footprint alternative within much of the existing infrastructure, equipment and generation facilities. But it also allows African economies to compete with industrialized powerhouses on the global market, spring-boarding the continent’s social and economic progress forward.
Of course, natural gas is a blanket term and typically we differentiate it into two types. Most of the countries currently using gas in Africa are using associated gas, i.e. gas coming up along with oil production. And for years, we flared this off as a byproduct – burning up literally enough gas to fuel Africa’s demand for power. Thankfully this is being phased out and globally significant gas monetization has hit Africa. As a fuel source, its carbon footprint is roughly 30% lower than that of crude oil. And with the European Union recently backpedaling on years of blocking gas development, now labeling it as a green fuel source, international markets have opened up, which MSGBC nations are ideally positioned to supply.
Why are so many African countries still flaring?
Historically, extracting gas economically across most of Africa has been a non-starter. Gas wells cost more than oil wells with greater hazards because gas is volatile on the surface and explosions can be deadly. But mostly it was a money thing. Oil prices were and are high at about $108 a barrel whilst many of the oil-producing countries regulated their own gas prices set at next to nothing. Nigeria for instance had the price of gas at 10 cents in MMBTU, then 20 years ago they raised it to 20 cents. Recently, natural gas hit $9 in the USA. Governments were keeping gas prices low in the mistaken belief that it would mean cheap power for their citizens, but really it meant no-one was investing in utilizing the resource, so the infrastructure never got built. Senegal’s got the right idea in that it’s legally a free market for gas and many other nations are catching on, with LNG on the rise, new European market opportunities and world-class gas megadevelopments now arising in the MSGBC basin.
How do you feel about the energy transition?
I’m 100% in favor of the energy transition and of selling excess gas to Europe. Here in Dakar, the fumes from the coal smokestack in the Bargny settlement are blown over the city and you can see the pollution. Gas is cleaner, greener and essential fuel source until such a time as we have effective renewables in place for Africa’s 1.1 billion people.
Most importantly, people need cost-effective power and domestic gas achieves that. The cost per unit of power output for diesel as an energy source is almost twice that of gas yet still much Senegalese power production relies on this heavy fuel oil at $14 in MMBTU. Besides, of the $9 equivalent you might spend on gas instead, half of that goes directly back into the local economy as taxes and to the people developing the resource instead of being shipped back abroad to the country which exported the diesel fuels to Senegal.
During the MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2022 conference, discussions will be centered around the role oil and gas will continue to play in Africa’s energy future. What topics would you like to see addressed at west Africa’s premier energy event and how will Africa, Fortesa and Senegal fit into the dialogue?
For me, the key is that African energy should first develop Africa. Today the Shell station’s out of fuel because we have to import the diesel and so when supply fails, the economy skids to a halt. They’re talking about using naphtha in the new combined cycle gas turbine power plant here but naphtha is more expensive than diesel fuel. We need investment in cleaner fuels for development.
Senegal already has over 30% renewables in its grid. But data from Europe shows renewables there are less than 40% efficient on average which eats into the supply and cost efficiency of these sources. So, I would encourage dialogues around how to drive investment into domestic gas exploration. The oil industry stopped exploring years ago– there’s not 10% of the exploration going on today that was going on globally a decade back. There’s only development and exploitation. So, it is up to we working here in Africa to shift the narrative from talking first about exports. We must take the lead in our own defense to develop Gas fuel not waiting for others risk-taking investors to come while we still have many without access to electricity, while we all pay too much here for the electricity that we do have due to expensive oil sourced fuels and resulting pollution, and onshore African prospectivity can effectively accomplish much of this for African and right now!
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Russia’s Gazprom has halted gas exports to neighbouring Finland, in the latest escalation of an energy payments dispute with Western nations.
Gazprom Export has demanded that European countries pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles because of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but Finland refuses to do so.
The move by Gazprom comes at the same time as Finland is applying to join the NATO military alliance, a decision spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Gas imports through Imatra entry point have been stopped,” Finnish gas system operator Gasgrid Finland said in a statement on Saturday.
Imatra is the entry point for Russian gas into Finland.
Finnish state-owned gas wholesaler Gasum on Friday said Gazprom had warned that flows would be halted from 0400 GMT on Saturday morning.
Gasum and Gazprom also confirmed on Saturday the flows had stopped.
“Natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract have been cut off,” Gasum said in a statement.
“Starting from today, during the upcoming summer season, Gasum will supply natural gas to its customers from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline.”
Balticconnector links Finland to neighbouring Estonia’s gas grid.
Gazprom Export on Friday said flows would be cut because Gasum had not complied with the new Russian rules requiring settlement in rubles.
The majority of gas used in Finland comes from Russia but gas only accounts for about 5% of its annual energy consumption.
Most European supply contracts are denominated in euros or dollars and Moscow already cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month after they refused to comply with the new payment terms.
Gasum, the Finnish government and individual gas consuming companies in Finland have said they were prepared for a shutdown of Russian flows and that the country will manage without.
“The Finnish gas system is in balance both physically and commercially,” Gasgrid said on Saturday.
Finland on Friday said it had agreed to charter a storage and regasification vessel from U.S. based Excelerate Energy (EE.N) to help replace Russian supplies, starting in the fourth quarter this year.
The vessel turns supercooled, liquefied natural gas (LNG), which arrives on ships, back into regular gas.
Source: Reuters
Diesel prices have gone up astronomically to almost Gh¢12 (US$1.52) in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa.
As of Thursday, almost all the leading and smaller oil marketing companies have adjusted their diesel prices upward.
GOIL, the market leader, adjusted the price of diesel from Gh¢11.20 per litre to Gh¢11.69 per litre, representing a 40 pesewas increment.
TotalEnergies and Shell also adjusted their diesel prices to Gh¢11.90 per litre while Star Oil and Gaso are selling at Gh¢11.99 per litre.
The upward review of diesel prices is in response to the rising cost of the commodity on the global market.
Diesel price has been soaring as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the high demand for the commodity.
As of 18th May 2022, the price of diesel was sold at US$1,038.13 per metric tonne.
It was sold at US$1,066.25 per metric tonne previously.
Meanwhile, petrol price remains at below Gh¢10 pesewas per litre.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, (GNPC) was nearly closed down by ex- Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor over the poor state of the corporation, a former Chief Executive Officer of the corporation has told energynewsafrica.com.
Dr. Amos Ofori Quaah, the CEO of the Corporation between 2001 and 2002 during the Kufuor administration, told energynewsafrica.com in an exclusive interview that when the New Patriotic Party (NPP), led by John Agyekum Kufuor, won power from the NDC administration in 2001, the corporation was in a sordid state.
He said at that time, the corporation had strayed from its core mandate and ventured into non-core business which was not yielding any positive returns.
Besides the wasteful venture the corporation had ventured into, Dr Ofori Quaah revealed that the corporation was overstaffed with a workforce of about 972 people.
Touching on how he stopped the former Ghanaian leader from closing down GNPC, Dr Amos Ofori Quaah said upon hearing the intention of the government, he discussed it with a friend who later introduced him to Mr Kan Dapaah, the then Minister designate for Energy.
“So I met the Minister and told him that we were close to finding oil so we cannot close down the corporation,” Dr Ofori Quaah told this portal, adding that “what I agreed to do to save the corporation was cutting down the workforce drastically.”
He said he took the unpleasant decision by cutting down the workforce from 972 to about 70 and refocused the Corporation to its core mandate of finding oil for the country.
Dr Quaah, who started his job with the Corporation in 1985, said he restructured the organisation including setting up the exploration and production department which worked tirelessly leading to Ghana finding oil in commercial quantities in 2007.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Sierra Leone has launched the country’s 5th Petroleum Licensing Round in London, United Kingdom.
In total, 63,643km2 of offshore acreage is up for grab across 56 graticular blocks of some 1,360km2 each.
A contract area is formed with a minimum of three graticular blocks.
The Licensing Round will remain open until September 30, 2022.
It notably follows several announcements related to exploration offshore Sierra Leone earlier this month.
On May 10, Wildcat Petroleum announced it was granted non-exclusive right over 20 blocks offshore Sierra Leone where it will carry out a desktop study using geophysical and geological data.
Last week, Innoson Oil & Gas also revealed the results of a third-party evaluation of its concession in the country by Ryder Scott Co, estimating up to 8.2 Tcf of gas and 234m barrels of condensate of P50 estimated un-risked gross prospective recoverable resources there.
Sierra Leone has already shown oil deposits during previous exploration campaigns led by Anadarko, Repsol and Tullow Oil.
These notably resulted in a few discoveries, though uncommercial ones.
They include Venus B-1, Mercury-1, and Jupiter-1 by Anadarko in 2009, 2010, and 2012, and Savannah-1X by Lukoil in 2013.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
“It is important for us all as Ghanaians to understand how all these come about because now we all listen to the radio and we can see that there is a worldwide crisis…there is a crisis in Britain…there is a crisis in America of all proportion. I am sure most of you are shocked that America is now airlifting baby food from Germany,” he added.
Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority, Abass Tasunti, took the participants through the dynamics and what goes into petroleum pricing in Ghana.
He emphasised that the government has put in place several measures to ensure the country does not experience a shortage of petroleum products which is being experienced in oil-producing countries like Nigeria.
Mr. Tasunti mentioned the recent reduction of fuel margins, collaboration with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and intervention of the Bank of Ghana in the forex market has helped in cushioning the situation.
Some participants described the forum as beneficial and enlightening.
“This meeting is an eye-opener to us. We will go back and share the knowledge with our colleagues and return to further dialogue with the NPA,” one of the participants summarised.
They, however, called on the NPA to step up efforts in dealing with adulterated fuel from some filling stations in the country.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, described the workshop as timely.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
Speaking further, Engr Ayodele said IBEDC is committed to upholding global safety standards, as well as sustaining the health and safety culture the company has built over the years through continuous internal endeavours and collaborations with external safety agencies.
“It is against this backdrop that we organised various programmes aimed at institutionalising the safety culture within our business and the people we serve, namely Essay Competition, 1st Responder training, Technical workshop and colloquium, courtesy visits to critical stakeholders etc., to commemorate the 2022 World Day for Safety and Health at Work. This is to further position us for the safety challenges and best practices of the 21st century.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
Dr. Sule Abdulaziz
“We are willing, and we want to ensure that we finish this substation within one year. We will also invite Mr President to commission the substation,” said Dr Abdulaziz.
The TCN head said that the transmission line that would bring bulk supply to the substation is from Kano and was earlier affected by the right of way issues.
“TCN and the government are collaborating on this, and processes have been completed and the contractor would be back to site and soon finish his work and we would be able to commission this substation,” he noted.
He noted that the substation facility has two units of 150MVA power transformers and two units of 60MVA power transformers.
The representative of the contractor of the Katsina project, Engr Mustapha Maihajjo lauded the current administration for fast-tracking the Katsina Substation project’s funding.
He said, “Since the coming of this administration, we have been able to procure about 95% of all the equipment requirements for this project,” noting that shipment of the materials was earlier delayed by COVID-19, but was now on the ground.
The Special Assistant on Power and Energy to the Katsina State Governor, Mansur Ahmed Musa commended the Katsina Mega Substation project. In his words: “We have waited for it for a long time and we cannot wait for it to be delivered. We believe that this project will be delivered timely as the contractor and the Managing Director of TCN promised.”
At the 132/33kV Kankia Substation where the materials for the 330kV Kano to Katsina Transmission Line are stored, the MD of TCN, Engr Abdulaziz said: “We are using part of the station as a storage facility for the materials the contractor is using for the construction of the 330KV transmission line from Kano to Katsina.”
Engr Abdulaziz also said the line was awarded around 2010, but the right of way issue in Kano affected the project execution.
According to him, “We have discussed with the Kano government. They have assisted us with paying for the land while TCN has concluded processes for the structures. So the contractor is now free to come to continue the construction of towers and eventually the lines. We want to make sure that within the one year remaining for this administration, we will be able to complete that transmission line so that Mr. President will commission the project.”
At the 330/132/33kV Rimini Zakaria Substation in Kano State, the MD said: “We started this project some years back and it has reached a very high level of completion. As you can see, the transformers, the switch gears, everything here is now almost 80% complete and this is the second 330kV Substation in Kano.
“Everybody knows that after Lagos in Nigeria, the next city is Kano, but it has just one 330kV substation which is not enough, this new substation will bring to two the number of 330kV substations in Kano. The substation, he said is almost 80% completed and the transmission line that will bring power to the substation is being executed, noting “that is why the Minister for Power, Engineer Abubakar D. Aliyu asked me to come for this visit to access the current state of project execution, to ensure the project is being executed properly.”
The MD explained that the substation also has two units of 150MVA transformers and two units of 60MVA transformers.
Also on clearing the transmission line right of way to the substation, Dr. Abdulaziz informed that the Kano State Government has paid for the land while TCN has concluded processes to pay for structures.
The government has also given land to relocate those whose lands were directly affected by the substation project, saying, “By the time we complete this project, the line to Katsina will start from here and will feed the 330/132/33kV Katsina Substation,” said the TCN boss.
Engr Dr. Abdulaziz also visited the 30MVA 132/33kV mobile transmission Substation Bichi, which was executed in-house by TCN engineers. The substation has been completed and will improve the bulk power requirement of the state waterworks, Bichi and environs.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
