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
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), who have had a long, mutually beneficial relationship, have signed an agreement for the joint establishment of an African Energy Bank at the 8th African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VIII) in Luanda, Angola.
The agreement was signed by Rene Awambeng, Director and Global Head Client Relations, Afreximbank, and Dr Omar Farouk, Secretary General of APPO, in the presence of H.E. João Manuel Gonҫalves Lourenҫo, President of the Republic of Angola, and APPO Ministers.
All the parties involved were concerned about challenges faced by Africa’s oil and gas industry and the continent’s economic development, and all parties acknowledge the impact of climate change on the continent and the need for a just transition in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063.
“As we address the energy transition challenges facing the world and Africa, we should be mindful of the fact that Africa still needs to rely on its natural resources, including oil and gas, for its future development. Through this new venture, Afreximbank and APPO are working towards achieving this vision,” Rene Awambeng, Director and Global Head Client Relations, Afreximbank said at the signing ceremony.
In line with the agreement, the two institutions have resolved to work together to find an African-led solution to combat the threat presented to the African oil and gas industry, brought on by the coordinated withdrawal of international trade and project financing, and have committed to taking necessary steps to find a solution to this challenge.
“The new bank will deal with the vacuum created by the withdrawal of international banks from the financing of oil and gas projects in Africa,” stated Awambeng, adding that, “It will be an African-led solution to address the threat posed to the African oil and gas industry from the shortages of funding. This will be a balanced solution with the goal of preserving both the environment and livelihoods.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Libyan prime minister-designate Fathi Bashagha was forced out of the capital Tripoli on Tuesday by armed militias backed by current interim Prime Minister Adbdul Hamid Dbeibah, who refuses to step down and cede power as a significant amount of the country’s oil production capacity remains shut-in.
Armed clashes shook Tripoli on Tuesday as Bashagha, backed by the eastern-based parliament, entered the capital to assume power from Dbeibah, forcing the prime minister-designate to leave the city only hours after entering.
Clashes erupted when Bashagha entered the city with militia forces, prompting a response from Dbeibah’s militias.
One staff member of the Italian embassy was wounded during the clashes.
The rival prime ministers blame each other for starting the clashes, with Bashagha calling the Dbeibah government “hysterical”.
“Despite our peaceful entry to Tripoli, without use of violence and force of arms, and our reception by honorable people of Tripoli, we were surprised by dangerous military escalation carried out by armed groups affiliated with the outgoing government,” Bashagha tweeted.
“We are not seeking authority, but rather determined to build democratic civil state with elected authority, state governed by law, not governed by logic of violence and chaos sponsored by the outgoing government,” the new Prime Minister added.
The United Nations and the United States have urged calm.
“We urge all armed groups to refrain from violence and for political leaders to recognize that seizing or retaining power through violence will only hurt the people of Libya,” the U.S. Embassy in Libya said in a statement.
Some 600,000 bpd of Libyan oil production remains shut-in due to rivalry between Bashagha and Dbeibah over the distribution of oil revenues.
The Libyan National OIl Company (NOC) was forced in mid-April to declare force majeure on two oilfields, including its largest–Al Sharara–as well as on key export terminals. Libyan production is now hovering around 80,000 bpd.
Bashagha holds the key to resuming oil production. However, with no agreements forthcoming over oil revenues, without taking Tripoli and controlling the central bank, the prime minister-designate cannot force a new revenue distribution setup.
Source: Oilprice.com
Ghana’s Ministry of Energy’s Petroleum Directorate is now being headed by Mr. James Dwamena Yamoah, energynewsafrica.com can confirm.
He replaced Mr. Benjamin Asante who retired from the Ministry in April 2022.
Prior to moving to the Ministry of Energy, Mr. James Yamoah was the General Manager in charge of Health Safety and Environment at the West African nation’s national company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
He served in various capacities at GNPC including serving as the Chief Operating Officer, Team Lead, Senior Exploration Geologist and Operations Geologist.
He has over a decade experience in Petroleum Geology and Project Management.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Nine people have been killed while 10 others were also severely injured, after a gas cylinder explosion in the Sabon Gari area of Kano State in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The unfortunate incident happened on Tuesday morning at a welder’s shop close to a nursery and primary school.
A statement issued by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirming the incident, said: “The death toll in the gas explosion which occurred at Aba Road in Sabon Gari of Fagge Local Government Area, Kano, has increased to nine.
“Nine dead bodies were recovered from a collapsed building affected by the explosion and have been deposited at the mortuary at Armed Forces Specialist Hospital, Kano.”
It continued: “Ten persons were injured and were taken to various hospitals out of which two have been discharged.”
The statement added that the Director-General of NEMA, Mr. Mustapha Habib, “led the rescue team and excavators were mobilised to ensure removal of trapped victims.
“NEMA rescue team was at the site of the incident to investigate and ascertain the impact of the explosion.”
NEMA also stated that the rescue operations, which commenced by 10 a.m and officially closed at about 5:15 p.m, were well-coordinated, and urged the general public, particularly those living in the affected area, to remain calm and warned against spreading fake news.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo visited the explosion scene on Tuesday to commiserate with the families of the victims.
His Excellency Yemi Osibanjo ( 3rd left ), Vice President of Nigeria being briefed at the scene of the gas cylinder explosion
“We are here to first find out for ourselves what has happened and then also, commiserate with residents here and the families who lost some members and had children who were injured,” he said.
“I’m told that this was a blast and nine in all died as a result of the incident.
“This is a very, very sad and very unfortunate development, and just to say how deeply regrettable this is,’’ he stated.
Also, present during the visit were Abdullahi Ganduje, Governor of Kano; Nasiru Gawuna, Deputy Governor of the state, as well as security operatives and officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Reacting to the explosion yesterday, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar commiserated with the victims.
In a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity, Atiku Care Foundation (ACF), Okpani Jacob Onjewu Dickson, the Director-General of ACF, Ambassador Aliyu Bin Abbas, said Atiku, who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PD), was deeply saddened over the explosion.
“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was saddened by the development and has tasked relevant agencies to investigate the remote and immediate causes to forestall future occurrence.
“He commiserates with the government and people of Kano State, families that were affected and wished the injured speedy recovery.
“He has also tasked me to direct the Kano State Chapter of Atiku Care Foundation to furnish his office details of those affected, to see those that might need assistance,” Ambassador Abbas said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, has been named among the top 50 public sector leaders on the African continent.
Dr. Abdul-Hamid got the coveted award on Friday, May 13, 2022, at the third edition of the Africa Public Sector Conference & Awards (APSCA) ceremony.
The award night celebrated and recognised outstanding state-owned organisations, public sector agencies, ministries and leaders demonstrating excellence in leadership, policy innovations, service delivery, inspiring innovations and individuals raising the benchmark of excellence that leaded to socio-economic growth across Africa.
This year’s awards ceremony was held in Accra and saw 50 CEOs from the public sector across the continent being honoured.
The NPA boss expressed gratitude to the organiser’s and promised to even play a more pivotal role in positioning the Authority as a trailblazer in the downstream sector.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The biggest holdout to an EU embargo on Russian oil imports, Hungary, continues to dig its heels in, and has told the other European Union members it would need at least $811 million (770 million euro) to prepare its refineries and pipelines for ditching Russian oil, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing documents it has reviewed and sources with knowledge of the discussions.
In early May, the European Commission officially proposed a full ban on Russian crude and oil product imports, to come into effect by the end of the year.
But the EU is still scrambling to find a common position, trying to persuade Hungary and some other central and eastern European countries to drop their opposition to an embargo.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held close ties with Putin before the Russian invasion of Ukraine—is the biggest opponent to an EU embargo on Russian oil imports, and has said it would need hundreds of millions of dollars to adapt its refining and pipeline industry in order to accommodate a stop to Russian oil imports.
Orban has said that an oil ban would be like “dropping a nuclear bomb on the Hungarian economy”, while Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said last week that it would not drop its opposition to a Russian embargo unless it receives hundreds of millions of dollars, necessary to replace Russian oil.
Hungary also wants pipeline oil imports to be exempted from the ban.
The Hungarian opposition to an embargo continued this week. At a meeting on Monday, the foreign ministers of the EU failed to persuade Hungary to drop its veto on an embargo.
Lithuania said that the EU is being “held hostage by one member state,” commenting on the failed talks.
Diplomats now hope that an EU summit on May 30 and 31 could reach a unanimous decision on a ban on Russian oil, to be phased out over six months and with exemptions for central European countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
The Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) indebtedness to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the Republic of Ghana has ballooned to $900 million as of the end of the first quarter of this year.
This was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CiPDiB) in a statement presented at the public hearing on the Multi-Year Major Tariff Review in Accra.
Commenting on ECG’s proposal requesting a 148 per cent increment in Distribution Service Charge, Dr. Elipklim Apetorgbor, CEO of the Chamber, argued that ECG does not have any moral right to ask for that level of increment.
“You are heavily indebted and have not paid your generators. As of the end of the first quarter of 2022, you owed us almost $900 million in power supply invoices only, excluding other legitimate claims. It is wiser to continue making the effort to retrieve those difficult debts, no matter how small per time than writing off GHS 625million debts of your customers.”
Dr. Apetorgbor said it is baffling for ECG to be asking for an increment when the 2020 State Ownership Report revealed that ECG, the Volta River Authority and other energy-related institutions have made a profit.
Dr. Apetorgbor said for them to declare profit in the provision of constitutionally mandated service to the public is a deviation from the core mandate and rather competing with the private utilities service providers, adding, “and this is expected to result in tariff reduction to make the electricity tariff in Ghana competitive and not to seek for an increase in tariff.
“You recalled that the GoG/MoF laid claims in the recent past, via the mid-year budget review to the fact that the ECG/GoG is debt-ridden because of taking or paying PPAs. GoG’s subsequent notice of the application to the public in February this year revealed that it has made savings of $13.2 billion through the renegotiation efforts and also that the Average Cost of Generation for the IPPs has declined to 16.2 cents/kWh –10.5 cents/kWh. If these claimed savings are true and real, it should be good news to the sector revenue requirement and most importantly inure to the benefit of ECG. Indirectly, this should shore up ECG’s revenue and there should be no justification to increase tariff for ECG to make excess revenue,” Dr. Apetorgbor said.
He challenged the ECG in particular that if it claimed to make a profit, then it means it has excess revenue that it has achieved via efficiency, technologically and commercially.
This, he believes will result in tariff reduction to make the electricity tariff in Ghana competitive and not to seek an increase in tariff.
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
Reacting to the explosion yesterday, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar commiserated with the victims.
In a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity, Atiku Care Foundation (ACF), Okpani Jacob Onjewu Dickson, the Director-General of ACF, Ambassador Aliyu Bin Abbas, said Atiku, who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PD), was deeply saddened over the explosion.
“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was saddened by the development and has tasked relevant agencies to investigate the remote and immediate causes to forestall future occurrence.
“He commiserates with the government and people of Kano State, families that were affected and wished the injured speedy recovery.
“He has also tasked me to direct the Kano State Chapter of Atiku Care Foundation to furnish his office details of those affected, to see those that might need assistance,” Ambassador Abbas said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com