The Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN) has blamed the load shedding in the Lagos axis on the fire incident that occurred at the Egbin Power Station last Wednesday.
In a statement signed by the General of Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, for TCN, it said the fire incident necessitated the shutdown of all the power generating units in the power station.
The company noted that a total of 630MW was removed from the grid as a result of the shutdown and for that, TCN had to strive to ensure that it achieved generation load balance to maintain the stability of the grid.
This it did by reducing bulk electricity to Lagos to avoid overloading the 330kV lines within the state, while the third unit at the Shiroro Station was tied.
The statement further said those moves were necessary to avoid the collapse of the nation’s grid.
“Meanwhile, Egbin Power Station is working assiduously to ensure a full restoration of its generating units to the grid,” the statement said.
TCN assured its consumers that it would continue to do all it can to keep the grid stable, adding that it would continue the evacuation of generated power from the Egbin Power Station as soon as the station resumes power generation.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s leading indigenous Oil Marketing Company GOIL Company Limited has re-opened the newly furbished service station at Kwabenya, a surbub of Accra.
Situated at the Atomic road Kwabenya roundabout, the GOIL modern service station is equipped with an ultra-modern GoCafe, Auto center, Lube bay, a Pharmacy and a Restaurant.
Click on the link below to watch a documentary by National Petroleum Authorityhttps://fb.watch/b0JuxPKQC8/
Commissioning the station, the Group CEO/Managing Director of GOIL Company Limited, Hon. Kwame Osei Prempeh said GOIL is committed to giving quality fuels to its numerous customers.
He appealed to Ghanaians to continue patronizing GOIL products, which of course, gives value for money.
He affirmed that GOIL would soon establish even more ultra-modern stations nationwide, to ensure every Ghanaian enjoy the quality fuels GOIL is offering to the Ghanaian market.
In agreement, the Chief Operating Officer of GOIL, Mr. Alex Adzew added that the company aims at providing quality products yet at affordable prices for its customers satisfaction, citing GOIL XP RON 95 additive as distinct but same price.
Mr. Alex Adzew, COO of GOIL (right) presenting freebies to customers who purchase GOIL products at the newly refurbished Kwabenya service station
Present at the ceremony were the Dealer of the station, Oheneba Frimpong, Zonal Manager-South, Helen Kyeremateng, Chief Inspector Broni of Dome Kwabenya Police Station, District Crime Officer, DSP Maxwell Kwaku Sarpong, Chief Inspector Priscilla Ofori, Mr. C.K. Amoh of the Ghana National Fire Service, NADMO Director-Ga East, Mr. Seth Kisi, Assemblyman of Atomic Electoral Area, Hon. Cornelius Addo, Atomic Taxi Chairman, Francis Adu, among other dealers from various service stations in the Southern Zone.
GOIL Company Limited is listed on Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Although not the first time of seeing a suspension of the price stabilization and recovery levy (PSRL), the 11th October 2021 announcement by government of same was touted by its functionaries that it is the biggest relieve government is bringing to consumers, in relation to the persistent rise in fuel prices in the country.
However, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) analysis of happenings on the local market shows that the suspension of the PSRL over the past three months have proven to be an unrealistic strategy for bringing down domestic fuel prices, thus questioning the credibility of the levy.
The strategy deployed in November 2021 and when average prices of Petrol and Diesel hit Gh¢6.52 per litre, was in direct response to mounting pressure on government by Ghanaians, to halt the frequent upward fuel price adjustments.
Three (3) months after the suspension of the levy, domestic fuel prices have risen by more than 9 percent to reflect rising international oil and fuel prices, and fall in value of the local currency. Referenced to today’s Petrol price of Gh¢7.45 per litre as offered by Total Petroleum and Shell (Vivo), the commodity’s price has moved up by roughly 14 percent since the PSRL was suspended in November 2021.
Should these two variables (international oil price, and Cedi value) maintain their traction on the foreign and local market respectively, Petrol and Diesel prices are likely to stay above Gh¢8 per litre before mid-2022.
But for some political interventions in mid-December 2021, the price of Petrol and Diesel would have crossed the Gh¢7 per litre mark before the end of year 2021. That desperate move resulted in Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) threatening to pull out of the Association of Oil Marketing (AOMC), after the latter allegedly accused the former of bowing to government’s pressure to reduce its prices, in contravention with of the petroleum downstream deregulated regime’s practices.
An elevated geopolitical risk, shrinking spare capacity and a relatively mild effect of Covid-19 infections on petroleum demand, would be counted as key factors in oil and fuel prices increases on the global market, more likely to impact negatively on domestic fuel prices.
Should there be a downward correction in international oil prices as the world heads towards the lower demand period of spring and summer, it is unlikely local fuel prices would come down given the persistent fall in the value of the Cedi against the US Dollar.
Meanwhile, rising global crude oil prices remain a constant challenge to the Ghana Cedi’s value sustenance against the greenback due to the attending growth to the country’s oil and fuel import bill.
As it has become increasingly apparent that Petrol and Diesel prices will likely finish the first-half of the year at record highs, there must be a more sustainable and pragmatic response to the exposures from international oil prices and the foreign exchange (Forex) market; one that goes beyond the PSRL.
Whereas the PSRL has proven unsustainable in its present form and substance as validated by IES’ study, the National Petroleum Authority’s incompetent application of same to the realities of the Ghanaian fuel market is a worse cause for worry.
Consumers of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) should be prepared for the worst as the price of the domestic commodity is likely to hit GHc10 per kilogramme in the next couple of months.
The Vice President of the LPG Marketers Association, Gabriel Kumi, argued that prices of LPG will continue to go up on the local market every two weeks if gas prices continue to soar on the global market.
“We should brace ourselves to pay more for LPG every two weeks. And as prices are going up, consumption will decline,” Mr Kumi told energynewsafrica.com in a telephone conversation.
Currently, a kilo of LPG is sold at between Gh¢8.50 and Gh¢8.70.
This rising cost of LPG, according to the LPG Marketers Association, has reduced the consumption of the commodity.
Mr Gabriel Kumi, in an interview on Accra- based Joy FM and monitored by energynewafrica.com, said about 60 per cent of people who live in urban areas are unable to fill their cylinders to the brim when they visit LPG stations because of hikes in prices.
He said in rural areas, the percentage of people who are unable to fill their cylinders ranges between 80 per cent and 90 per cent.
“We are going down in terms of consumption of LPG in Ghana. One would expect that as your population is growing, your consumption rate is growing too, but we’re stagnating. We are just hovering around 28,000 29,000 metric tonnes for the past 3 years,” he explained.
He blamed the development on various taxes imposed on the product.
“The average household cylinder [cost] is now about between GH¢120 to GH¢125. Ask yourself: if the ordinary Ghanaian, who is taking home GH¢500, go to the LPG outlet and fill their cylinders? How do you expect an average worker to use about 20 per cent of their monthly salary to go and buy just LPG?” he said.
The restored PSRL is 16 pesewas per litre on petrol, 14 pesewas per litre on diesel and 14 pesewas per kilogram on LPG.
Given the prices, he said they would further contribute to a decrease in the consumption of the product.
“The irony of the situation is that the government has set itself an objective to increase the consumption of the product from the current 25 per cent penetration level to 50 per cent by the end of 2030, [but] people cannot even afford the product. Now the product is being bought in tots,” he said.
He mentioned that people buy as low as GH¢5, adding that that defeats the purpose of the government’s agenda to make the product accessible to many.
“How would somebody carrying such a metal walk to an LPG station and buy GHc20 to GHc30 cedis and go back home? It’s a matter of affordability,” he said.
He warned that if urgent steps aimed at subsiding the price of the product are not taken, the country could suffer dire consequences.
He, thus, called on the government to remove all taxes imposed on LPG.
“LPG is a very sensitive product to price, so any pesewa increase in the price of LPG goes a long way to reduce the consumption of the product.
“LPG must be made tax-free so that we save our environment and Ghana,” he said.
“We appreciate the fact that the government needs money, but we’ve always said that the benefit this country stands to gain by pushing up the consumption of LPG outweighs the benefit we get from taxes,” he added.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Nigeria has started investigating an explosion on an oil production vessel capable of holding about 2 million barrels of crude.
“I’ve instructed our field operatives to move in and carry out a full-scale incident report,” Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, said by phone. There will be no “speculation” from the agency while the probe is carried out, he said, without providing a timeframe for the work.
The Trinity Spirit blew up early Wednesday off the coast of Nigeria, marking yet another environmental setback for the nation’s oil industry.
It’s not clear how much crude was being stored on the ship, nor who owned the oil.
The vessel can process as much as 22,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the website of Shebah Exploration & Production Co., the independent Nigerian producer that was leasing the vessel.
The regulator will investigate the “source of the crude” onboard at the time of the explosion, Komolafe said. Data published by Nigeria’s state-owned energy company show no production from Shebah’s permit in 2020 or 2021, while the country’s oil regulator announced in mid-2019 it was revoking the license.
Shebah is in receivership and had offered the vessel — owned by a related company Allenne Ltd. — to pay down some of its debt, according to a spokesman for the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria. That process was yet to be concluded, the spokesman for the state debt recovery agency said.
A vessel with a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil has exploded off the coast of southern Nigeria’s Delta state, raising fears of an environmental disaster and concerns about the fate of its crew.
Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) said on Thursday that flames had engulfed the Trinity Spirit following the blast a day earlier.
The floating production, storage and offloading vessel can process up to 22,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the operator’s website.
Images published by local media showed thick black smoke billowing from a sinking ship engulfed by flames.
The vessel was located at the Ukpokiti Terminal, along the coast of the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
Joe Sunday, an assistant boat driver, said he was in one of the two speedboats out at sea on Wednesday morning to pick some crew who were due to take time off from work but could not reach the vessel because it was consumed by fire.
“We drove round to see if we could see people but we did not see anybody and the fire was still blazing,” Sunday told Reuters news agency at a port in Warri.
Tiby Tea, chairman of Maritime Union for Nigerian Ports Authority in Warri, confirmed that two boats sent out to the vessel could not find anyone.
“At this time there are no reported fatalities but we can confirm that there were 10 crewmen on board the vessel prior to the incident,” SEPCOL Chief Executive Ikemefuna Okafor said in a statement.
An investigation was under way to determine the cause of the accident, he said, adding that the company was working to “contain the situation”.
Nigeria’s regulatory agency for upstream operations, NUPRC, said the explosion had led to a “major fire” and that it had “commenced investigations into the incident”.
“The commission will take necessary measures to ensure that all safety and environmental measures … to safeguard lives and the environment are put in place,” spokesman Paul Osu said.
Crude oil prices spiked above $93 a barrel on Friday, the highest since October 1, 2014.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose more than 2.9 percent to $93.54.
Similarly, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased 2.5 percent to $92 a barrel.
Over the past months, oil prices have continued to surge as countries relaxed lockdowns and dropped travel restrictions.
On Wednesday, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, agreed to increase output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Engen Ghana Limited, a petroleum retail company, has donated relief items to victims of the recent explosion at Appiatse, a community near Bogoso in the western part of the Republic of Ghana.
In line with Engen Ghana’s long-established Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, which focuses on improving livelihoods and benefiting society, the company offered mattresses, mosquito nets and assorted food items to the Appiate community, many of whom find themselves homeless as a result of the explosion.
“The Engen Ghana team and I would like to express our sincere condolences to the victims of this tragic incident,” Managing Director of Engen Ghana, Brent Nartey said in a statement copied to energynewsafrica.com.
He continued that “at Engen Ghana, we live by the principle: ‘the best way of living is giving’ and are offering help to the people of Appiate in the form of much needed supplies. I call on local businesses and community members who are in the position to help to do what they can to support the relief effort.”
Engen Ghana Ltd. is a national petroleum retailer supplying refined petroleum products and other downstream-related services to both private and commercial customers around the country.
The company operates a network of over 40 service stations.
Engen Ghana Ltd. was acquired by Mocoh Ghana Ltd. in 2019.
Ghanaians were thrown into a state of mourning on Thursday, January 21, 2022, when a vehicle carrying mining explosives exploded on its way to a mining site after it was allegedly hit by a tricycle.
The explosion resulted in the destruction of several houses, rendering the occupants homeless.
Thirteen people were confirmed dead with over 50 people sustaining varying degree of injuries.
Russian major energy firm, ERSO Energy Solutions has announced plans to invest in Ethiopia.
Ethiapia’s, Ministry of Foreign Affairs which disclosed this in a statement said the electro technical holding company ERSO, has shown interest to invest in the energy sectors of Ethiopia.
“The Ethiopian Embassy in the Russian Federation had a very fruitful and productive discussion yesterday with Goran Malbasic, CEO of ERSO Energy solutions, electro technical holding company with global presence (ERSO) on investment opportunities in the Energy sector,” the Ministry said.
“ERSO is one of the most respected company having 100 years of service in the energy industry, excel in specialized supplies, servicing and exporting of high, medium and low voltage power generation distribution and transmission equipment which include distribution transformers, power reactors and renewable energy solution,” as to ministry.
The company’s profile states that ERSO is a diversified integrated company focused on complex equipment and implementation of new construction projects, reconstruction and modernization of energy facilities, it revealed.
The group of companies includes 4 production sites, its own design and research institutes, a design office, service and testing centers.
It is recalled that the government of Ethiopia and Russia has signed deal a few years ago to develop nuclear energy for Ethiopia to be used for medical and other non-military applications
Multiple oil transport and storage companies across Europe are dealing with cyber-attacks.
IT systems have been disrupted at Oiltanking in Germany, SEA-Invest in Belgium and Evos in the Netherlands.
In total dozens of terminals with oil storage and transport around the world have been affected, with firms reporting that the attacks occurred over the weekend.
But experts caution against assuming this is a co-ordinated attack.
The BBC understands that all three companies’ IT systems went down or were severely disrupted.
Belgian prosecutors say they are investigating the cyber-attack that’s affected SEA-Invest terminals including the company’s largest in Antwerp, called SEA-Tank.
https://fb.watch/aZKLgP8Vrn/
A spokeswoman for the company said they were hit on Sunday with every port they run in Europe and Africa affected.
The company is working to get a back-up IT system online but says that most liquid
transportation is operational.
The spokeswoman said SEA-Invest is aware of the cyber-attacks against other companies but investigations have not determined if there is a link.
A spokesperson for Evos in the Netherlands told the BBC that IT services at terminals in Terneuzen, Ghent and Malta have “caused some delays in execution”.
On Monday Oiltanking Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, which stores and transports oil, vehicle fuels and other petroleum products, said it had been hacked.
The company was forced to operate at a “limited capacity” and was investigating the incident, it said.
Some reports suggest the attack on Oiltanking is ransomware, where hackers scramble data and make computer systems inoperable until they get paid a ransom.
In May last year a ransomware attack on US oil supplier Colonial Pipeline saw supplies tighten across the US and multiple states declaring an emergency.
The Colonial Pipeline in the US was hacked in May 2021
An employee of a major barging company in the Netherlands told the BBC that port supply chains were disrupted.
The worker said they first noticed problems on Tuesday when oil deliveries started slowing down. He said “things are moving but much slower than normal”.
The disruption comes as tensions remain high between Ukraine and Russia and as concern over rising energy prices grows.
But cyber-security experts caution against jumping to the conclusion that the multiple incidents are the result of a co-ordinated effort to disrupt the European energy sector.
“Some types of malware scoop up emails and contact lists and use them to automatically spam malicious attachments or links, so companies with shared connections can sometimes be hit in quick succession,” said Brett Callow, Threat Analyst at cyber-security company Emsisoft.
“This is why you sometimes see sector-based or geographic-based clusters of incidents.”
Another possible explanation could be that all the companies use the same software for operations that may have been compromised by hackers.
Source: BBC
The Federal Government of Nigeria has rescinded its decision to withdraw fuel subsidies, consequently, budgeting 3trillion Naira (US$7.22 billion) as fuel subsidy in the 2022 Budget following pressure from the citizens.
The government announced last year that it would withdraw fuel subsidies in 2022, thus sparking controversy among industry players and consumers.
However, the Buhari administration backtracked after remonstrations from Nigerians.
Speaking at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last week, Nigeria’s Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has presented the N3 trillion bill to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as what is required for the whole of this year to extend the payment of petroleum subsidy.
She explained that realities on the ground, including the present hardship faced by Nigerians and the lack of structures to support subsidy removal, resulted in the NNPC making a request of N3 trillion from the Ministry of Finance for 2022.
“What this means is that we have to make incremental provision of N2.557 trillion to be able to meet subsidy requirement which is averaging about N270 billion per month,” she said.
She said the request was considered by FEC, which directed the ministry to approach the National Assembly for an amendment to the fiscal framework as well as the budget.
Last Wednesday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, met with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) over the N3 trillion subsidy payment.
Workers of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in the Republic of Ghana are seething with anger after a list of seven persons said to have been appointed as new Board Members of the refinery emerged on social media and published on several online portals including this portal.
The West African nation’s premier refinery was messed up by successive leadership with the refinery currently saddled with huge indebtedness to a host of both state and private institutions.
The refinery is currently being managed by a three-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) chaired by Ing Norbert Anku.
It was constituted after the Managing Director, Francis Boateng, and his deputy, Ato Morrison, were dismissed last year.
Since the IMC assumed the post, the workers say they have demonstrated capacity to turn the refinery around if they are given the necessary support from the government.
In a petition intercepted by energynewasfrica.com, the workers argued that “since they (IMC) were appointed, TOR’s operations are gradually gaining its glory with our partners because strategic measures have been put in place to fix the plant.
“When the workers heard of the appointment of the new board, staff of TOR are in dilemma and the question they are asking is why can’t the President allow the IMC to roll out their strategic policies before any appointment is affected?” it said.
The workers said, “We are pleading that Mr President, for once, let this IMC stay a little more to ensure that what they plan of implementing to salvage the refinery is achieved.
Mr President, this plea from the workers of TOR has never happened before. This shows that the workers are extremely happy with what the IMC is implementing.”
The workers expressed fear that if the IMC is kicked out, the new board and the incoming Managing Director may erode the gains achieved.
The workers appealed to the President to consider IMC members for appointment in the refinery.
Meanwhile, energynewafrica.com understands that the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, is expected to meet the leadership of the TOR workers’ Union on Thursday at the Ministry.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a $27.39 million grant to Ghana for the development of renewable energy investments in the mini grid and net metering space.
The project involves the development of 35 mini grids, standalone solar photovoltaic systems in 400 schools, 200 units in healthcare centers and 100 units for community energy services centers in the Volta region.
It will also deploy up to 12,000 units of roof-mounted net-metered solar photovoltaic systems for public institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and selected households.
The project has leveraged co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program, a funding window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, amounting to $28.49 million and $13.30 million, respectively.
The Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering is expected to have an annual electricity output of renewable energy estimated at 111,361MWh, corresponding to an installed capacity of 67.5MW.
The project will mitigate greenhouse emissions of 0.7795 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year and create up to 2,865 jobs during construction, of which 30% will target women and youth.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, the African Development Bank Group’s Director General for West Africa, said: “The Bank Group’s support is aligned to Ghana’s development priorities that aim to promote and develop the country’s rich renewable energy resources for sustainable economic growth, improved social life and reduced adverse climate change effects. In addition, the post Covid-19 era has highlighted the importance of reliable energy services.”
Eyerusalem Fasika, the African Development Bank’s Country Manager for Ghana, said: “The project will support Ghana’s Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) program, which identifies the energy sector as an enabler of economic transformation. It has the potential to create jobs, fundamentally expand access to businesses and bring prosperity to Ghanaians.”
Daniel Schroth, Acting Director of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Department, noted that the West African nation of Ghana has one of the highest electrification rates in Africa.
”The approval of the grant facility reflects a strong commitment of the African Development Bank to support Ghana’s objective to achieve universal access to electricity and its 10% renewable energy target by 2030,” he said. “This project is a good example of the Bank Group’s ability to leverage financing from climate investment funds and donor partners by supporting electrification of Ghana’s remaining 15% located in the island communities.”
The African Development Fund is the Bank Group’s concessional funding arm. The African Development Bank has been an implementing entity of the Climate Investment Funds since 2010.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Tema Regional branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has invested a total of ¢3.26 million on seven major system improvement works from July to December 2021.
The system improvement projects in the region, forms part of a grand corporate plan of ensuring reliable power supply and delivery of safe and quality electricity services to customers.
The projects, each of which costs above ¢200,000 include system injections and replacement of obsolete equipment.
In a statement, the General Manager for the Region, Ing. Emmanuel Akinie, said: “ECG is continuously working diligently towards its mandate and that such system improvement works are needed to ensure the integrity of the system, and to extend supply to new customers”.
Giving a breakdown, he said out of the seven major projects, three of them covered the replacement of cables within the Tema Metropolis at a cost of ¢2,364,801.12, while the rest of the funding was allocated to system injections because there was the need to add more transformers to the power system or network in order to improve the quality of supply.
He added that “these injections become necessary as the customer population grows and existing transformers become overburdened. If such injections are not done timely, the existing transformers serving customers could either get damaged or the customer end voltage will be substandard”.
Ing. Emmanuel Akinie, General Manager for Tema Regional ECG
Ing. Akinie indicated that ECG needs to undertake such works in order to keep the power on for customers as much as possible.
He therefore used the opportunity to urge customers to pay their bills promptly, so that the company could generate the needed revenue to improve the system and delight customers in several ways.
For those engaged in power theft, he stated that, “we constantly monitor the consumption of our meters both at the offices and on the field. There are sanctions in place so if anyone does not want to be found on the wrong side of the law, they should endeavor to do the right thing and stop the illegal connection”.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
But for some political interventions in mid-December 2021, the price of Petrol and Diesel would have crossed the Gh¢7 per litre mark before the end of year 2021. That desperate move resulted in Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) threatening to pull out of the Association of Oil Marketing (AOMC), after the latter allegedly accused the former of bowing to government’s pressure to reduce its prices, in contravention with of the petroleum downstream deregulated regime’s practices.
An elevated geopolitical risk, shrinking spare capacity and a relatively mild effect of Covid-19 infections on petroleum demand, would be counted as key factors in oil and fuel prices increases on the global market, more likely to impact negatively on domestic fuel prices.
Should there be a downward correction in international oil prices as the world heads towards the lower demand period of spring and summer, it is unlikely local fuel prices would come down given the persistent fall in the value of the Cedi against the US Dollar.
Meanwhile, rising global crude oil prices remain a constant challenge to the Ghana Cedi’s value sustenance against the greenback due to the attending growth to the country’s oil and fuel import bill.
As it has become increasingly apparent that Petrol and Diesel prices will likely finish the first-half of the year at record highs, there must be a more sustainable and pragmatic response to the exposures from international oil prices and the foreign exchange (Forex) market; one that goes beyond the PSRL.
Whereas the PSRL has proven unsustainable in its present form and substance as validated by IES’ study, the National Petroleum Authority’s incompetent application of same to the realities of the Ghanaian fuel market is a worse cause for worry.
