The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has released $180 million to Rwanda to finance rural electrification projects mainly in the south of the country.
Of the $180 million, $140 million represents a loan from the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) sovereign window while the other $40 million is from the Growing Together in Africa Fund, a $2 billion facility funded by the People’s Bank of China (PBC) and administered by the AfDB.
The funding is for the implementation of the Transmission System Strengthening and Last Mile Connection Project (TSRLMC).
This project aims to increase access to electricity in rural areas of Rwanda, and it is part of the Rwanda Universal Electricity Access Program (RUEAP) which will be implemented in 2024.
Under the TSRLMC, the Rwandan government plans to build more than 1,000km of medium voltage lines and 3,300 km of low voltage lines to facilitate access to electricity down to the last mile.
It will also build 137km of high voltage lines and six substations to reinforce the network.
The project will also install or upgrade over 1,200 distribution transformers and related infrastructure.
According to the Rwandan government’s projections, the TSRLMC will provide access to electricity to 77,470 households.
The project will also benefit 75 schools, eight health centres and 65 administrative centres while providing 125MW of clean electricity from hydroelectric plants.
The construction and management of the future infrastructures are expected to create 455 permanent jobs and 760 part-time jobs, 30 per cent of which will be for women.
“This project will improve the quality of life of the population by facilitating better access to education and health. It will also stimulate private sector growth, thus contributing to Rwanda’s social and economic transformation programme, which aims to transform it from a developing country to a middle-income country by 2035,” Aissa Touré-Sarr, AfDB Group Country Director for Rwanda, said.
According to the pan-African financial institution based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the recently allocated additional funding will support works in southern Rwanda, mainly in the localities of Gisagara, Huye, Nyamagabe, Nyanza, Nyaruguru and Ruhango.
The project will also increase access to the grid in the towns of Nyarugege, Nyamata, and Kigali Hub “as well as in other localities in the country where increasing commercial activity has increased the electricity demand,” the AfDB says.
The TSRLMC has already secured $84.2 million in financing from the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional lending window of the AfDB Group, in 2021.
Rwanda currently has an electricity access rate of 49 per cent, according to Power Africa.
Source: energynewsafrica.com
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has announced the inauguration of regional electricity interconnection between Mozambique and Malawi.
According to him, the two countries will become relevant actors in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Nyusi expressed this conviction in Matombo, in the western province of Tete, together with his Malawian counterpart Lazarus Chakwera.
He laid the first stone for constructing a 400 kilovolt (kV) transmission line through which Mozambique will supply Malawi with 50 megawatts of power.
The transmission line is budgeted at USD 62 million.
A second component of the project is the expansion of the Matambo sub-station, budgeted at USD 21 million, to guarantee the reliability of the power supply.
“In this way, we are strengthening the solid image of an economic bloc with more than 300 million consumers”, Nyusi said.
“These undertakings will benefit the development and the interests of our peoples”.
Source: energynewsafrica.com
Leading oil marketing companies in the Republic of Ghana have adjusted the price of diesel at their various fuel outlets.
GOIL, the market leader, adjusted the price of diesel from Gh¢10.20 per litre to Gh¢10.65 per litre.
TotalEnergies and Shell also adjusted their diesel prices to Gh¢10.90 and Gh¢10.79 per litre respectively.
Also Puma energy has adjusted its diesel price toGh¢10.90.
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.
As of 29th April 2022, the price of diesel was sold at US$1,207 per metric tonne.
It was sold at US$1,202.13 previously.
Meanwhile, the petrol price remains the same at Gh¢ 9.35 pesewas per litre.
Fuel prices are expected to go up in the next pricing window beginning May 1,2022.
The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has commissioned an $11 million Primary Substation to provide stable, reliable and quality power supply to the University of Ghana Medical Centre in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) is a 1000-bed capacity hospital. This means that the hospital will require adequate electricity to run efficiently.
The substation was funded through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a United States agency.
The project is one of the many electric infrastructural assets which form part of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Financial and Operational Turnaround project of the Ghana Power Compact II.
The substation has a capacity of 52 megavolts amperes and can supply all present and future power needs of the University of Ghana Medical Centre and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.
It would also serve as an alternative source of power supply to other institutions and surrounding communities.
Commissioning the project, Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr. Mohammad Amin Adam, noted that the substation would help to reduce technical losses in the ECG’s distribution system and reduce power outages in the catchment area.
“There is indeed a lot to celebrate with the coming on stream of this project and the local community can now heave a huge sigh of relief,” he said.
He said besides the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point, works have also been completed on the Kasoa Bulk Supply Point which is a 435 MWA capacity gas Insulated switchgear substation.
He said the project has been energised and is in operation, awaiting formal inauguration next month.
Further to this, he said works on the national transmission backbone from the coast to Bolgatanga which had a gap between Kumasi and Kintampo have been completed.
Dr. Amin added that the Tema-Accra transmission line is also being upgraded to increase its capacity from 161KV to 330 KV.
Dr. Amin said Ghana is working hard to increase the contribution of renewable energy and in particular attain a minimum of 10 per cent contribution from renewable energy in the generation mix by 2030.
He commended Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for making funds available to MiDA for projects executed under the Ghana Power Compact II.
Board Chairperson of MiDA, Prof Ntiamoah-Baidu, called on the university authorities and Electricity Company of Ghana to preserve and sustain the facility as well as the power grid the substation depends on, to achieve the lasting results outlined.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
A former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. Amos Ofori Quaah, has officially launched a book which chronicles his role and steps Ghana’s national oil company took leading to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 2007.
Dr. Ofori Quaah, a Geophysicist graduate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), started work with GNPC in 1985 and rose through the ranks to become the CEO of the corporation between 2001 and 2002.
Having been part of the formative group of the GNPC, Dr Ofori Quaah set out to debunk those false theories and detail the technical work and sacrifices that went into making Ghana’s oil find a reality.
The 358-page non-fiction literature recounts Dr. Quaah’s early industry experience at Phillips Petroleum Company in London, the advantage of going through several departments which gave him a solid grounding in geophysical data acquisition and processing, quality control and interpretation, as well as geology.
Mr. Edward Brafo, raising a copy of the book
These strengths would prove so crucial later as he supervised and or processed every seismic survey the corporation embarked on in seventeen years.
In those seventeen years, Dr. Ofori Quaah mapped every basin in Ghana and recounts the very interesting experience of making the first-ever seismic map made in Ghana, by “borrowing” lead and coloured pencils, and erasers from the stocks of his three-year-old son because such basic supplies, especially of good quality pencils, were difficult to find in Ghana when he returned in late 1984.
These cool real flashbacks, among others, in the book give it a highly humane and relatable feel one does not need to be an industry expert for their mind’s eye to welcome and embrace the book.
The book touches on an extensive mapping project he did on the Cape Three Points sub-basin of Ghana’s Western Region in 1992. This turns out to be the major turning point of the whole offshore Ghana exploration effort.
Fifteen years later, an American company drilled the first commercial oil discovery in the same area and within the same geological system, he had predicted in 1992.
He includes in the book a scanned copy of parts of the project report he had written on the project, which rekindles the controversy a few years ago, about the Cape Three Points discoveries.
Dr. Quaah revealed that he and other principal characters involved in the exploration programme in the early days of GNPC never benefited from the oil largesse.
Also, several young children missed the presence and love of their fathers very early in their lives because their fathers had to travel on official assignments away from home in Ghana or overseas in dedication to this project.
“For the sake of those children and their mothers, those unsung heroes and heroines, something had to be written down for posterity, and this book tries to honour the hard work of such individuals.” Thus, he said, is one of the reasons he wrote the book.
Titled: ‘My Footprints In Ghana’s Black Gold’, the launch attracted petroleum sector players.
In attendance at the book launch were high-profile dignitaries such as Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist and politician; Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana; Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, Board Chairman of Ghana Revenue Authority and CEO of Tropical Cables & Conductors Ltd;Lawrence Apaalse, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy Lawrence; Mr. Thomas Manu, a former Deputy CEO of GNPC; Theophilus Ahwireng, Managing Director of MODEC Production Services Ghana (MPSG) JV Ltd; and several former staff of GNPC among others.
The Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, a Board Chairman of Ghana Revenue Authority and Founder of Tropical Cables & Conductors, described the book as a captivating memoir of Dr. Amos Ofori Quaah’s role in Ghana’s oil industry.
Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi
According to him, it is an inspirational book for the younger generation who wants to know the history of Ghana’s oil discovery.
He, therefore, called on players in the oil and gas industry to grab copies to read to broaden their scope of knowledge in the industry.
Copies of the book can be found on Amazon, EPP books, Kingdom books and stationery and Baatsona Total.
Theophilus Ahwireng, Managing Director of MODEC Production Services Ghana JV Ltd (MPSG)Mr Lawrence Apaalse, former Chief Director at the Ministry of Energy
A tanker fully loaded with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has overturned on the Accra-Tema motorway, one of the busiest roads in the Republic of Ghana, posing danger to motorists.
The tanker with registration number GN 4513-21 went for the load from Half Assini in the Western Region and was heading to Tema when it overturned on the section of the motorway close to the Adjiringanor police station along the motorway.
When energynewsafrica.com got to the scene, personnel from the Motorway Fire Service were at the spot to ensure the area was safe for motorists.
Fire service personnel at the scene and some members of the Gas Tanker Drivers Union were seen supervising the discharging of the gas into an empty gas tanker.
Narrating how the accident happened to energynewsafrica.com, the driver of the gas tanker, who gave his name as Kobby, said on reaching a section of the motorway where the tanker overturned at about midnight, there was another truck moving in the other lane and kept veering off into his lane.
He said his continuous tooting the horn of his truck to alert the other driver of the seeming danger he was causing yielded no effort.
At that point, he said he realised that the driver could be napping behind the steering wheel and, therefore, applied the brakes but the truck overturned as a result of the slippery nature of the road in the raining night.
The spokesman for the Fire Service Personnel at the scene, Samuel Nartey, said they received a call at about 1 am and on reaching the scene, where they observed that the tanker was fully loaded with the flammable material, they quickly detected for leakage to block it to avert any possible explosion.
The incident has created a terrible traffic situation on the Accra-Tema section of the Motorway.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
German activists have allegedly succeeded in halting the flow of crude oil through pipelines at five separate locations in protest against the country’s foot-dragging on a ban on Russian oil.
A group calling itself “The Uprising of the Last Generation” claims to have breached the pipelines at emergency stations on Wednesday where climate activists activated shut-off valves and then chained themselves to the valves.
According to Reuters, the five valve locations were in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Greifswald and Koblenz.
The group said that “crude oil pipelines had been turned off all over Germany and the flow of oil had been interrupted”.
Members of the group filmed the shut-offs, posting video and photographs on Twitter and Instagram.
According to Germany’s, Tichy’s Einblick daily it was unclear at the time of writing if crude oil flows along this pipeline had effectively been halted.
Activists are demanding that the government of Olaf Scholz work faster to find ways to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian energy sources.
“We are in a climate emergency! The German government not only ignores it, it plans to fuel it further. To now want to drill for oil in our North Sea – this is madness that you must stop, Mr. Habeck!” activist Edmund Schulz said in statement.
Germany, the European Union’s largest economy, has waffled on Russian oil and gas, with unions and industry leaders warning that an “immediate” Russian natural gas ban would be disastrous to the economy.
Germany has already cut Russian oil imports by over 20%, with officials now spreading optimism that it could be only a matter of days before the country is capable of a total embargo on Russian oil.
On Tuesday, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck declared that Germany had reduced Russian oil imports to around 12% from 35% prior to the invasion of Ukraine, and that a full ban on Russian oil would be “manageable” soon–potentially in a matter of days.
Source: Oilprice.com
The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has completed an $11 million Primary Substation and its associated interconnecting circuits for the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
The project is expected to be commissioned and officially handed over to the authorities of the university on Wednesday, April 27,2022. It was funded through the Millennium Challenge Corporation MCC, a United States agency.
The project is one of the many electric infrastructural assets, which form part of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Financial and Operational Turnaround project of the Ghana Power Compact II.
The substation has a capacity of 52 megavolts amperes and can supply all present and future power needs of the University of Ghana Medical Centre and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.
It would also serve as an alternative source of power supply to other institutions and surrounding communities.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Nigeria has held a mass burial for over 50 people who were part of 109 people who perished in an explosion last Friday.
The explosion occurred at an illegal refinery in a forest in the Abaezi community of the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area in Imo State.
The dead were buried in three graves dug at the site of the explosion.
Local reporters who covered the burial event reported that Marcel Amadioha, who is the Interim Management Committee chairman of Ohaji-Egbema LGA, explained that they conducted the mass burial because many victims were unable to be identified by their family members.
“We have the instruction of the governor of Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodimma, to conduct a mass burial for the victims of the explosion. This is the least we can do for them because they were burnt beyond recognition. You can see there are no relatives of the victims who are here. This is because the victims were unidentifiable. This is the least we could do to avoid their bodies from decaying further,” he said.
“I believe this will serve as a deterrent to others. We are clamping down on all illegal refineries in this area. We can’t allow this economic sabotage to continue. We deserve better than this. The governor has shown enough compassion by providing us with enough logistics to carry out this mass burial.”
Ben Marcos, the area youth leader, revealed that the community is currently carrying out a sensitisation programme to educate the youth about the dangers of oil bunkering.
According to reports, traditional authorities performed libation to appease the gods to avert similar incidents in the future.
Environmental health officials of Ohaji-Egbema LGA carried out a fumigation exercise to forestall disease outbreaks in the area.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Eleven people including two children have died in India after being electrocuted as their truck, decorated as a temple chariot, touched an overhead power transmission wire during a Hindu festival procession in the southern part of the Asian country.
According to a report by Aljazeera, citing local media reports, at least 15 people were injured in the incident.
The deaths occurred early on Wednesday when the temple chariot procession was underway in Tamil Nadu state’s Thanjavur district, 340km (210 miles) south of the state capital Chennai, police said.
The NDTV news channel said the truck, crowded with devotees, also caught fire by the electric spark.
The procession was organised by a local Hindu temple.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply pained by the mishap.
“My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. I hope that the injured recover soon,” his office posted on Twitter.
Tamil Nadu state’s Chief Minister M.K Stalin also expressed his condolences and announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees ($6,524) each to the families of those who were killed in the incident.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Four children have perished after they were electrocuted in the Ile Oluji /Okeigbo Local Government Area of the Ondo State in South-West Nigeria.
The children died when an electric cable fell on the metal container shop they were staying inside, according to a report filed by powerupng.com citing Gatekeepers News.
The incident reportedly occurred last Monday.
“Yes, we can confirm the death of the four kids. An electric cable fell while they were inside a container. We have commenced investigation into the matter,” the Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami, said.
According to the report, two of the four victims were siblings who visited their aunt for the Easter holiday in the community.
The victims and other children were reportedly playing in the container when the incident happened.
Reacting to the incident, the senator representing Ondo South, Nicholas Tofowomo, said he would ensure the parents of the victims get justice if the Benin Electricity Distribution Company was found culpable of the matter.
He warned the residents of the community against erecting buildings or shops under high tension cables or any power supply line.
“We cannot allow lawlessness to continue in this country. I will pursue justice for the parents if investigations showed culpability of the BEDC.
“Moreover, the government must do its job by not allowing shops or buildings to be erected under power lines. The lives of these precious children would not have been wasted if individuals do their jobs accordingly.”
Reacting to the tragic news, the Corporate Affairs Manager of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Ondo State, Michael Barnabas, said the incident was fatal because the metal container shop was under the high tension electric cable.
“Sadly, we received information about the electrocution of four little children within our network in Ile-Oluji due to an 11kv line that snapped. As a company, we console the families of the children because life is very sacred and should not end prematurely in this way.
“The deaths would have been avoidable if there were nothing within the 11meters right of way statutorily required for such line.
“While we don’t have the powers to relocate people directly living or trading under our electricity lines, we shall be very brutal in disconnecting such customers from the public power supply and ensure they never have access to it again which would probably lead to them relocating voluntarily out of the harm’s way. By this, we believe we can prevent future occurrence of similar sad incidents in future,” he concluded.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
As this portal reported on April 16, 2022, that the tenure of Dr. Kofi Koduah Sarpong as Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) would end on Friday, April 22, 2022, energynewsafrica.com has intercepted a letter he wrote to the staff of the national oil company.
In the letter, Dr. Sarpong highlighted some of the achievements the corporation chalked under his tenure and also begged for forgiveness from those he might have hurt.
His letter to the staff rally support for Opoku Ahweneeh-Danquah, who has been appointed as acting Chief Executive Officer of the corporation.
The appointment of Mr. Opoku Ahweneeh-Danquah has dampened the spirit of some staff of the national oil company, energynewsafrica.com can report.
Mr. Opoku Ahweneeh-Danquah’s appointment as acting Chief Executive Officer of GNPC, according to energnewsafrica.com sources, was influenced by Board Chairman of GNPC, Freddie Blay, and Nana Asante Bediatuo, Secretary to President Akufo-Addo, and cousin of Opoku Ahweneeh-Danquah.
Below is Dr K.K Sarpong’s letter:
Dear All,
As you already aware, I will step down as Chief Executive of your esteemed Corporation on 22nd April, 2022.
My tenure in GNPC began some five (5) years ago during which time we have all together transformed this organization from just a few oil development projects to a much stronger national oil company with a lot more producing fields and discoveries. Indeed, we have achieved a lot together and I hope you are as proud of our achievements as I am.
To name a few – the Research & Technology Centre is near completion; the Takoradi Operational Office is under construction and the Accra Head Office project is just about to begin. Springfield’s West Cape Three Points Block, ENI’s Block 4 and Aker Energy’s Pecan Field will come onstream in the very near future. During my tenure, a lot more Ghanaians assessed the GNPC Foundation scholarship. More CSR projects were undertaken in line with GNPC’s objective to have its operations have a positive impact on the indigenes of this country.
Serving as CEO for this country’s oil and gas institution comes with huge responsibility.
However, you made it smooth sailing for me. I say this because I had the opportunity to meet and work with every talented, smart and dedicated professionals whose experience and skill made it easy for me to steer this ship. Working with such a fantastic team to achieve all that we have in such a short time warms my heart.
I leave knowing that you will build on the good foundation we have created together.
Together we came, we saw and we conquered. Ayekoo to all of you!! It has been a pleasure working with you and I am honestly going to miss everyone.
Human as I am, I may have inadvertently stepped on some toes in my bid to get the best for the organization. Please find a place in your heart to forgive me. It was never out of malice but for our common good.
Mr. Opoku Ahweeneh Danquah, Deputy Chief Executive (Technical) will step into my shoes as Chief Executive. Kindly accord him the same courtesies and support you gave me.
Thank you for everything we have accomplished so far, and I wish you the very best for everything you will do in the future.
K.K. SARPONG (DR.)
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Global oil demand will drop by 1.4 million barrels per day, according to the latest forecast by Rystad Energy.
The 1.4 million bpd loss would sink oil demand to 99.6 million bpd on average, below 2019 levels of 100.2 million bpd. And a rebound in this demand isn’t expected to happy until next year at the soonest, Rystad said.
The drop in oil demand will likely come from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation, China’s Covid-inspired lockdowns, and supply chain disruptions. And even more oil demand pressure could be applied through future lockdowns or geopolitical issues.
“Shrinking demand is a direct result of the impact of lower economic activity globally,” the consultancy said, adding that such a demand decrease could ease today’s tight oil markets, calming oil prices.
Rystad isn’t the only one lowering oil demand forecasts.
OPEC cut its 2022 oil demand growth forecast by 480,000 bpd on the back of lower expected global economic growth given the war in Ukraine and China’s Covid lockdowns.
The IEA also cut its oil demand forecast by 260,000 bpd to reflect the return of severe covid lockdowns in China.
Meanwhile, the World Bank and the IMF have both cut their overall global growth expectations for this year.
But Rystad isn’t changing its outlook for bullish oil prices. According to Rystad, if the Russian war in Ukraine drags on, it will increase oil and gas prices, particularly if the EU ends up banning oil and gas this year.
“The Russian war worst case for oil demand is premised on Brent prices reaching $180 per barrel in the fourth quarter, triggering a further economic slowdown and outright destruction of oil demand,” Rystad said.
Source: Oilprice.com
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has directed security forces in Africa’s most populous nation to, with immediate effect, clamp down on all illegal oil refineries dotted across the country.
This follows the explosion that occurred over the weekend at an illegal refinery located at Abaezi forest in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.
The explosion claimed over 100 lives of Nigerians.
The Nigerian leader, in a statement by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, described the incident as “a catastrophe and a national disaster.”
President Buhari emphasised that security agencies have been directed to intensify the clampdown on illegal refineries.
He said the responsibility for the loss of lives and property “must squarely lie with the sponsors” of the illegal refinery, assuring that they “must all be caught and made to face justice.”
The president conveyed “the condolences and the full depth and range of the nation’s shock and trauma” to the families of the victims, the community and the people of the state.
Mr Buhari urged community leaders and the personnel of the Nigerian Police Force to take steps to ensure that such a “heartbreaking incident” is not allowed to occur again in any part of the country.
Illegal crude oil refining has become a lucrative business, mainly among residents of oil-producing states, despite its dangerous consequences.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
It would also serve as an alternative source of power supply to other institutions and surrounding communities.
Commissioning the project, Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr. Mohammad Amin Adam, noted that the substation would help to reduce technical losses in the ECG’s distribution system and reduce power outages in the catchment area.
“There is indeed a lot to celebrate with the coming on stream of this project and the local community can now heave a huge sigh of relief,” he said.
He said besides the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point, works have also been completed on the Kasoa Bulk Supply Point which is a 435 MWA capacity gas Insulated switchgear substation.
He said the project has been energised and is in operation, awaiting formal inauguration next month.
Further to this, he said works on the national transmission backbone from the coast to Bolgatanga which had a gap between Kumasi and Kintampo have been completed.
Dr. Amin added that the Tema-Accra transmission line is also being upgraded to increase its capacity from 161KV to 330 KV.
Dr. Amin said Ghana is working hard to increase the contribution of renewable energy and in particular attain a minimum of 10 per cent contribution from renewable energy in the generation mix by 2030.
He commended Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for making funds available to MiDA for projects executed under the Ghana Power Compact II.
Board Chairperson of MiDA, Prof Ntiamoah-Baidu, called on the university authorities and Electricity Company of Ghana to preserve and sustain the facility as well as the power grid the substation depends on, to achieve the lasting results outlined.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
These cool real flashbacks, among others, in the book give it a highly humane and relatable feel one does not need to be an industry expert for their mind’s eye to welcome and embrace the book.
The book touches on an extensive mapping project he did on the Cape Three Points sub-basin of Ghana’s Western Region in 1992. This turns out to be the major turning point of the whole offshore Ghana exploration effort.
Fifteen years later, an American company drilled the first commercial oil discovery in the same area and within the same geological system, he had predicted in 1992.
He includes in the book a scanned copy of parts of the project report he had written on the project, which rekindles the controversy a few years ago, about the Cape Three Points discoveries.
Dr. Quaah revealed that he and other principal characters involved in the exploration programme in the early days of GNPC never benefited from the oil largesse.
Also, several young children missed the presence and love of their fathers very early in their lives because their fathers had to travel on official assignments away from home in Ghana or overseas in dedication to this project.
“For the sake of those children and their mothers, those unsung heroes and heroines, something had to be written down for posterity, and this book tries to honour the hard work of such individuals.” Thus, he said, is one of the reasons he wrote the book.
Titled: ‘My Footprints In Ghana’s Black Gold’, the launch attracted petroleum sector players.
In attendance at the book launch were high-profile dignitaries such as Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist and politician; Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana; Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, Board Chairman of Ghana Revenue Authority and CEO of Tropical Cables & Conductors Ltd;Lawrence Apaalse, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy Lawrence; Mr. Thomas Manu, a former Deputy CEO of GNPC; Theophilus Ahwireng, Managing Director of MODEC Production Services Ghana (MPSG) JV Ltd; and several former staff of GNPC among others.
The Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Tony Oteng Gyasi, a Board Chairman of Ghana Revenue Authority and Founder of Tropical Cables & Conductors, described the book as a captivating memoir of Dr. Amos Ofori Quaah’s role in Ghana’s oil industry.
Fire service personnel at the scene and some members of the Gas Tanker Drivers Union were seen supervising the discharging of the gas into an empty gas tanker.
Narrating how the accident happened to energynewsafrica.com, the driver of the gas tanker, who gave his name as Kobby, said on reaching a section of the motorway where the tanker overturned at about midnight, there was another truck moving in the other lane and kept veering off into his lane.
He said his continuous tooting the horn of his truck to alert the other driver of the seeming danger he was causing yielded no effort.
At that point, he said he realised that the driver could be napping behind the steering wheel and, therefore, applied the brakes but the truck overturned as a result of the slippery nature of the road in the raining night.
The spokesman for the Fire Service Personnel at the scene, Samuel Nartey, said they received a call at about 1 am and on reaching the scene, where they observed that the tanker was fully loaded with the flammable material, they quickly detected for leakage to block it to avert any possible explosion.
The incident has created a terrible traffic situation on the Accra-Tema section of the Motorway.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
The project is one of the many electric infrastructural assets, which form part of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Financial and Operational Turnaround project of the Ghana Power Compact II.
The substation has a capacity of 52 megavolts amperes and can supply all present and future power needs of the University of Ghana Medical Centre and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.
It would also serve as an alternative source of power supply to other institutions and surrounding communities.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The dead were buried in three graves dug at the site of the explosion.
Local reporters who covered the burial event reported that Marcel Amadioha, who is the Interim Management Committee chairman of Ohaji-Egbema LGA, explained that they conducted the mass burial because many victims were unable to be identified by their family members.
“We have the instruction of the governor of Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodimma, to conduct a mass burial for the victims of the explosion. This is the least we can do for them because they were burnt beyond recognition. You can see there are no relatives of the victims who are here. This is because the victims were unidentifiable. This is the least we could do to avoid their bodies from decaying further,” he said.
“I believe this will serve as a deterrent to others. We are clamping down on all illegal refineries in this area. We can’t allow this economic sabotage to continue. We deserve better than this. The governor has shown enough compassion by providing us with enough logistics to carry out this mass burial.”
Ben Marcos, the area youth leader, revealed that the community is currently carrying out a sensitisation programme to educate the youth about the dangers of oil bunkering.
According to reports, traditional authorities performed libation to appease the gods to avert similar incidents in the future.
Environmental health officials of Ohaji-Egbema LGA carried out a fumigation exercise to forestall disease outbreaks in the area.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
“We cannot allow lawlessness to continue in this country. I will pursue justice for the parents if investigations showed culpability of the BEDC.
“Moreover, the government must do its job by not allowing shops or buildings to be erected under power lines. The lives of these precious children would not have been wasted if individuals do their jobs accordingly.”
Reacting to the tragic news, the Corporate Affairs Manager of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Ondo State, Michael Barnabas, said the incident was fatal because the metal container shop was under the high tension electric cable.
“Sadly, we received information about the electrocution of four little children within our network in Ile-Oluji due to an 11kv line that snapped. As a company, we console the families of the children because life is very sacred and should not end prematurely in this way.
“The deaths would have been avoidable if there were nothing within the 11meters right of way statutorily required for such line.
“While we don’t have the powers to relocate people directly living or trading under our electricity lines, we shall be very brutal in disconnecting such customers from the public power supply and ensure they never have access to it again which would probably lead to them relocating voluntarily out of the harm’s way. By this, we believe we can prevent future occurrence of similar sad incidents in future,” he concluded.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com