Ghana’s power system has experienced yet another fault at the Aboadze transmission line leading to loss of power supply to some parts of the West African nation.
In a statement confirming the fault, the country’s power transmitter, GRIDCo, said its technical team immediately initiated restoration efforts and was able to fix the transmission network within 30 minutes.
The company said it is working with relevant players in the generation and distribution chain to resume power transmission to all affected areas.
“Currently, more than 80 percent of the affected substations have been fully restored. Efforts are ongoing to restore the remaining 20 percent,” GRIDCo said.
Ghana has been experiencing power outages since the beginning of this year.
The power transmission company has blamed the situation on a number of factors including upgrading of their transmission network.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, has cut power supply to greater parts of Kumasi and some adjoining towns in the Ashanti Region.
The power transmitter cut power supply to the area at about 9:22am Saturday.
Some areas including Konongo, Juaso and Agogo are also without electricity.
According to information from the Ashanti Regional Public Relations Manager of ECG, Erasmus Baidoo, GRIDCo is carrying out maintenance exercise on its transmission network in the region, hence, the reason for the outages.
According to him, electricity supply would be restored to Konongo, Juaso and Agogo by 4pm today, but could not confirm when the other affected areas would have power restored to them.
“ECG is on standby to pick the load as soon as it’s informed to do so,” he said.
“The inconvenience caused to our cherished customers is deeply regretted,” he concluded.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Marketers of Liquified Petroleum Gas in the Republic of Ghana are unhappy with the government over a purported 18 pesewas increment on the domestic fuel commodity.
According to them, the latest tax increment on the commodity will increase their cost of operations and also burden consumers.
The Government of Ghana’s policy on LPG is targeting at increasing LPG penetration access from the current 26 percent to 50 percent by 2030.
In view of this, the LPG marketers believe the continuous addition of taxes on the commodity would make it difficult for the country to achieve its target.
In an interview on Accra- based Neat FM, Vice Chairman of the LPG Marketing Companies Association of Ghana, Gabriel Kumi explained that the 18 pesewas increment on a kilogramme of LPG was purportedly introduced after the Majority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu presented the 2021 Budget and Economic Policy of the government.
Presently, LPG is being sold in Ghana at GH¢6.30 per kilogramme and it is about the highest in West Africa.
“In the whole of West Africa, Ghana’s LPG is the highest. In Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo and Nigeria, the government subsidies LPG because they see it as fuel of choice,” he said.
“As an association, over the past three years, we’ve been calling on the government to consider removing the existing…about two percent tax on LPG to make it much more affordable to the ordinary Ghanaian,” he emphasised.
The LPG Marketing Association appealed to the government to reconsider the decision to introduce the new tax on the kilogramme of gas since that is the only way that the industry can expand.
“At this stage, we’re appealing to the government to reconsider the decision to introduce 18 pesewas onto the product [LPG] and withdraw it so that we can save the LPG industry. Then, we can encourage more people to use the product…we can save mother Ghana at the end of the day.”
According to a data available to energynewsafrica.com, LPG consumption has witnessed a consistent decline over the last four months.
The data shows that LPG consumption in November 2021 was 35,000 metric tonnes, but the figure declined to 29,000 metric tonnes in December and continued to 28,000 metric tonnes and 26,000 metric tonnes in January and February respectively 2021.
Checks by energynewsafrica.com at the Ministry of Energy and National Petroleum Authority indicate that they were not aware of any increment in taxes on LPG.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, Aramco has signed a deal with a consortium led by EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG), one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure investors, to optimise its assets through a lease-and-lease-back agreement involving its stabilised crude oil pipeline network.
According to Emirates News Agency, which covered the signing ceremony, Aramco will receive upfront proceeds of around US$12.4 billion.
This is expected to further strengthen Aramco’s balance sheet through one of the largest energy infrastructure deals globally.
The transaction represents a continuation of Aramco’s strategy to unlock the potential of its asset base and maximise value for its shareholders. It also reinforces Aramco’s role as a catalyst for attracting significant foreign investment into the Kingdom.
As part of the transaction, a newly-formed Aramco subsidiary, Aramco Oil Pipelines Company, will lease usage rights in Aramco’s stabilised crude oil pipelines network for a 25-year period.
In return, Aramco Oil Pipelines Company will receive a tariff payable by Aramco for the stabilised crude oil that flows through the network, backed by minimum volume commitments.
Aramco will hold a 51 percent majority stake in the new company and the EIG-led consortium will hold a 49 percent stake.
Aramco will continue to retain full ownership and operational control of its stabilised crude oil pipeline network.
The transaction will not impose any restrictions on Aramco’s actual crude oil production volumes that are subject to production decisions issued by the Kingdom.
Aramco President & CEO, Amin H. Nasser, said, “This landmark transaction defines the way forward for our portfolio optimisation programme. We are capitalising on new opportunities that also align strategically with the Kingdom’s recently-launched Shareek programme. Aramco’s strong capital structure will be further enhanced with this transaction, which in turn will help maximise returns for our shareholders. Additionally, our long-term partners in this venture will benefit from investment in one of the world’s most robust energy infrastructures. Moving forward, we will continue to explore opportunities that underpin our strategy of long-term value creation.”
Abdulaziz M. Al Gudaimi, Aramco Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, said, “In addition to strengthening our balance sheet, this deal sets a new benchmark for infrastructure transactions both regionally and internationally. It is a vote of confidence in our long-term outlook by EIG and other heavyweights in the investment world and reflects the significant progress we are making in our portfolio optimisation programme. This transaction unlocks value from our assets and strengthens Aramco’s resilience, agility and ability to respond to changing market dynamics.”
R. Blair Thomas, EIG’s Chairman & CEO, said, “We are honoured to partner with Aramco, an undisputed industry leader, on this landmark transaction. Aramco’s oil pipeline network is a marquee global infrastructure asset. We look forward to investing in this infrastructure which is critical to the global economy, and to driving value for our institutional investors worldwide.”
The long-term investment by EIG and other institutional investors underscores the compelling investment opportunity represented by Aramco’s globally-significant pipeline assets, the Company’s long-term outlook and the attractiveness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a desirable investment destination for international investors.
The transaction is expected to close as soon as practicable, subject to customary closing conditions, including any required merger control and related approvals.
Electric motorbike company Ampersand Rwanda Ltd has secured a $3.5 million investment the largest ever venture capital fund investment from Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) into sub-Saharan Africa, esi-africa has reported.
The deal marks a turning point in global electric transport.
Commenting on the deal Ampersand founder/CEO Josh Whale said: “EIF’s support further dispelled the myth that electric transport will happen in rich nations first and trickle down to developing countries later, second-hand.”
San Francisco-based Ecosystem Integrity Fund is a sustainability-focused venture capital company, which invests in companies which reduce or ameliorate threats to ecosystem integrity.
Headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, Ampersand assembles and finances electric motorcycles (‘emotos’ or ‘e-bodas’) that are cheaper, cleaner and better performing than the 5 million petrol motorcycle taxis in use across East Africa.
Ampersand’s motorbikes produce at least 75% less carbon than petrol motorcycles and zero tailpipe emissions. Ampersand also builds and operates a network of battery swap station.
This allows drivers to change batteries faster than refilling a tank with petrol.
EIF’s historic $3.5 million investment will allow Ampersand to rapidly scale up its electric motorcycle and swap station network in Rwanda.
This will put hundreds more e-motos onto the road and create dozens more battery swapping stations.
The investment will also enable Ampersand’s expansion beyond Rwanda’s borders and and fuel the company’s research and development arm. This financial boost puts Ampersand on track to electrify East Africa’s motorcycle taxi fleet by 2030.
Since its commercial launch in May 2019, Ampersand’s fleet of 35 drivers and e-motos have covered over 1.3 million kilometers and over 7,000 drivers are on their waiting list.
Ampersand CEO Josh Whale commented: “We’re thrilled to have EIF on board for this historic investment. We now have the momentum to scale our operations to electrify all of East Africa’s 5 million taxi motorcycles by 2030.”
James Everett, Managing Partner at EIF said they are excited to partner with Ampersand as the company scales in Rwanda and expands across East Africa: “We believe that electrifying 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles in developing countries represents one of the low hanging fruits for climate change mitigation globally, and can have a profound positive impact on urban air quality.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Nigeria’s Federal Government has announced plans to install over 36 million electricity meters across the West African nation by the end of June 2021.
The FG believes this initiative will restore confidence and trust in the power sector as consumers of electricity would no longer be extorted through an estimated billing system that does not match consumption.
The country’s Minister of State in-charge of Power Goddy Jeddy Agba who was speaking at the inspection of the meter testing facility of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) in Enugu expressed satisfaction at the level of work and installation of state-of-the-art equipment that will process durability and certify fit for use all electricity meters imported into the country.
Agba said the power sector reforms of the present administration have to deal with new methods of boosting generation, transmission and distribution.
He said adequate power supply in the country will translate to statistical economic growth and development of the gross domestic product GDP, which is all time high within the last one month.
The Minister said the NEMSA plant and testing facility in Enugu is one of the strategy implementation plans of the federal government to discard mediocrity and lack of competence in handling government business, especially at a time the country has to play a vital and pivotal role in the African economy.
“The benefits that accrue from the planned inauguration of the meter testing plant and facility stem from the fact that substandard meters that are inflammable will be eliminated from circulation, economic dumping of inferior goods by other countries as practiced in the past will no longer be tolerated by the authorities concerned, and above all, the estimated billing system will come with a penalty to whoever served the bill to consumers,” he said.
The Minister said he came to see the level of preparedness of NEMSA to commence operations urgently, in compliance with the federal government directives that 36 million electricity consumers in Nigeria must be metered before the end of quarter two in 2021.
Agba stressed that the federal government’s commitment and concern for the power sector is unwavering, amidst financial constraints, but determined to ensure that the power sector is revamped and resuscitated to give a corresponding growth to the manufacturing and industrial sub-sectors of the economy, comparing the global growth of some sectors in countries with adequate power supply.
NEMSA chief electrical officer of the federation and managing director, Peter Ewosa, declared that all electricity meters imported into the country must be tested at the point of entry to certify their technical fitness before installation.
“Every country has its technical requirements and standard specifications for any equipment that is publicly or privately put into use, therefore, any meter that does not pass through the agency cannot be installed either at homes, offices and factories,” said Ewosa.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Managing Director of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Kwame Agyeman-Budu says the company has made a savings of $4 million as a result of cost cutting measures it introduced 2019.
“Since November 2019, I have been able to cut down expenses drastically. I have been able to save the company over $4 million,” he said.
The ECG MD made this known during a CSOs’ and media engagement with GRIDCo and ECG in Accra.
Giving explanation of what constitutes the savings, Mr. Agyeman-Budu said his administration cut down travelling expenses, vetting of staff claims, weekly stock keeping of meters and reduction in fuel consumption by parking of the company’s car after operational hours.
Mr. Agyeman-Budu also revealed that his outfit is working hard to deal with middlemen involved in meter acquisition as well as customers involved in power theft.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The $2-trillion infrastructure and tax plan of U.S. President Joe Biden proposes to eliminate tax preferences and implicit subsidies for fossil fuels that would boost government receipts by more than $35 billion over the next decade, the U.S. Treasury said in the Made in America Tax Plan Report this week.
President Biden’s plan on fixing the nation’s infrastructure unveiled last week proposes to “eliminate tax preferences for fossil fuels and make sure polluting industries pay for environmental cleanup.”
The President would like to see the package – which also includes a proposal to raise the corporate tax to 28 percent – passed by the summer, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this week.
The plan will likely face opposition not only from Republican, but also Democratic lawmakers, while the oil industry has already made clear it wants a level playing field for all economic sectors.
In the report on the tax plan, the Treasury said its estimates “suggest that eliminating the subsidies for fossil fuel companies would increase government tax receipts by over $35 billion in the coming decade. The main impact would be on oil and gas company profits. Research suggests little impact on gasoline or energy prices for U.S. consumers and little impact on our energy security.”
Tax preferences for oil, gas, and coal producers undermine the fight against climate change, the Treasury said.
“Recent research shows how the benefits of these implicit subsidies are concentrated within a handful of large firms,” says the report, referencing research led by Matthew Kotchen of the Yale University and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that EQT Corporation, Exxon, BP, Chesapeake Energy, and Chevron were the top beneficiaries of implicit subsidies in 2018.
Commenting on President Biden’s plan, Frank Macchiarola, Senior Vice President for Policy, Economic and Regulatory Affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, said last week: “Targeting specific industries with new taxes would only undermine the nation’s economic recovery and jeopardize good-paying jobs, including union jobs. It’s important to note that our industry receives no special tax treatment, and we will continue to advocate for a tax code that supports a level playing field for all economic sectors along with policies that sustain and grow the billions of dollars in government revenue that we help generate.”
Source: Oilprice.com
Africa focused oil and gas firm, Tullow Oil Plc has announced the start of a multi-year, multi-well drilling campaign offshore in the Republic of Ghana.
In a press statement posted on its website, Tullow said the drilling of the first well at the Jubilee Field commenced on Monday, April 5, 2021.
“The Maersk Venturer, which has been contracted for four years, is expected to drill four wells in total in 2021, consisting of two Jubilee production wells, one Jubilee water injector well and one TEN gas injector well,” the statement said.
The 2021 drilling campaign is the first part of Tullow’s 10-year Business Plan which was presented at Tullow’s Capital Markets Day in November 2020.
Tullow is the lead operator of Ghana’s Jubilee Oil Field.
The Ghana portfolio has a large resource base with extensive infrastructure already in place.
Through a rigorous focus on costs and capital discipline, Tullow believes that these assets have the potential to generate material cash flow over the next decade and deliver significant value for Ghana and investors.
Throughout this campaign, Tullow will continue to implement its shared prosperity strategy through a strong local content programme with suppliers in Ghana, the professional and technical development of Ghanaian nationals and continued investment in STEM education, enterprise development and shared infrastructure.
Commenting on the drilling campaign, Rahul Dhir, Chief Executive Officer, Tullow Oil plc, said: “Today is an important milestone in the implementation of our long-term Business Plan. Working closely with the Government of Ghana and our joint venture partners in Ghana, I am confident that we will unlock the full potential from the Jubilee and TEN fields through this multi-year, multi-well drilling programme.”
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Gambia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has launched the National Energy Nexus Platform as part of efforts to promote and adopt sustainable energy solutions in the West African nation.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Momodou B. Sarr, who is the adviser to the minister, said the platform was a multi sectoral group tasked with the responsibility of conducting policy dialogues linking energy with other relevant sectors of Gambia’s economy.
He added that for any country to achieve meaningful development; it must be able to provide adequate, reliable and affordable energy service to its people.
According to him, the government of The Gambia has accorded high priority to the energy sector.
He further added that the government of The Gambia strives to provide Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) by 2030, cognizant of the importance of energy projects for other key sectors of the economy.
“The Gambia National Platform for Energy Nexus is now being established to focus on those interlinkages in order to strengthen the collaboration relating to energy issues among key sectors,” he noted.
For her part, the UNIDO representative,Haddijatou Jallow, said the launching represents a milestone for the government of The Gambia, adding that in the past decades, efforts were made in terms of policies such as on energy, trade and consumer protection in The Gambia.
According to her, in order to support the Energy Nexus issues, the National Platform will facilitate the implementation of incentives to promote the uptake and dissemination of the targeted EE solutions on large scale in different sectors, geographical areas and target groups.
She further emphasised that after the establishment of the platform, it is expected that at least 20 projects will use the Nexus approach to encompass RE/EE in other sectors.
Also, efforts will be made to use gender mainstreaming during the implementation as 40% of the platform representatives will be women.
“In line with our mandate to promote Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, we support together with our partners the inevitable energy transition and the associated industrial transformation through promoting policy coherence, technology innovation and integrated energy system,” she concluded.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh is urging players in the power sector to desist from peddling untruths about the current intermittent power supply being experienced in the country.
The West African nation has been experiencing intermittent power supply since the beginning of 2021.
The country’s power transmitter, Ghana Grid Company, has blamed the situation on technical challenges and ongoing upgrading of their transmission lines.
Despite series of explanations offered by the power transmitter and the power distribution company, ECG, sections of the public and some industry players have rather blamed the situation on lack of funds for the power players to ensure efficiency in the their operations.
Speaking at the CSOs’ and media engagement with GRIDCo and ECG on the current electricity situation in the country, organised by the Institute for Energy Policies and Research, in collaboration with African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Energy Minister expressed worry about how some power generators are feeding the public with wrong information about the current situation.
He reiterated that the current intermittent power supply being experienced is not an indication of the return to the era of load shedding, but rather challenges in the transmission system.
“What we’re currently going through is not a generation deficit neither is it ‘dumsor’ as we experienced in the past,” he stated.
“It is rather unfortunate that our generators, who obviously have no problem with what has happened, are feeding the public with statements that are probably untruths….It’s not just right for a sector player to go on air and say that we’re in the current state because the government is not giving funds.”
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh expressed the view that this important stakeholder meeting would provide the opportunity and platform for the power subsector players to explain in details the reasons for the interruptions in the power supply system within the last few weeks.
“It is our expectation that such clarification will be extended to the larger populace,” he said.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh charged ECG and GRIDCo to communicate their planned outages timeously to enable consumers to plan ahead.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana would soon join the hosts of countries across the globe with its first Nuclear Power Plant.
The West African nation’s quest to use nuclear technology for power generation dates back in the 1960’s when the country’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah established the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission to spearhead the Nuclear agenda.
Unfortunately, the idea was stillbirth and abandoned until 2008 when a Cabinet decision to include nuclear in the country’s electricity generation mix was taken to help curb the national perennial power crisis.
Government’s bid to provide a solution to the country’s 10-year cycle of power crisis coupled with the need for an alternative baseload plant established a nuclear energy programme implementing and coordination body, known as the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO).
In accordance with the framework advocated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for Nuclear Power Infrastructure Development, GNPPO developed a 3 Phase roadmap for Ghana’s initiative.
The country has since 2018 established an Owner/Operator entity, the Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG) for its 1st Nuclear Power Plant and has successfully completed the first Phase of the Nuclear Programme.
NPG will undertake requisite feasibility studies and activities required in the project development and construction phases of the Nuclear Power Programme. Currently, Ghana is at the second Phase of the Nuclear agenda.
In an exclusive interview with energynewsafrica.com, the current Executive Director of NPG, Dr. Yamoah lauded the Board of Directors and his 2 predecessors for activities undertaken in Phase 1.
He mentioned that, under the Phase 2, NPG is tasked to develop institutions, build expertise/capabilities, liaise with, and manage stakeholders, comply with regulatory requirements, identify and select preferred site, negotiate with potential vendors, implement and further develop all necessary infrastructures studied and planned for in Phase 1.
Dr. Yamoah revealed that, four candidate sites have been identified, explaining further that processes are currently ongoing to select a preferred one among them, for the country’s first Nuclear Power Plant.
Critics of Ghana’s nuclear agenda have raised issues of time involved in establishing a Nuclear Plant, cost, safety and management of nuclear waste in view of the four major nuclear power incidents; namely: the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011), the Chernobyl disaster (1986), the Three Mile Island accident (1979) and the SL-1 accident (1961).
Responding to these concerns, Dr. Yamoah emphasised that even though each accident had a remote cause, there have been tremendous design improvements in nuclear reactors since those incidents, plus new and strict regulatory requirements.
“One beautiful thing about scientists and engineers is that when an incident happens, they take opportunity, even though it is not expected, to understand how and why it happened and ensure that it never happen again. So in the wake of the Fukushima incident, what most nuclear power plant operators in Japan and other parts of the world did was to shut down most plants. And then once the understanding came, they put in place measures to ensure that such a thing does not happen again,’’ he explained.
In a bid to school those who have no inkling as what really caused the Fukushima nuclear power accident, Dr. Yamoah said: “What happened at Fukushima was a combination of earthquake and Tsunami. So first the earthquake happened and all the national grid went off. The Nuclear Power Plant operators all over world have what we call emergency power systems. So with the national grid going off in Fukushima within seconds the emergency diesel generators came online and everything was restored to normal. And then after some few minutes the tsunami came and knocks off all the emergency diesel generators and so there was no power supply to the active systems to provide cooling to the system.”
Dr. Yamoah said, following the incidents, regulations have been established that puts responsibility on the nuclear power operators to ensure that emergency diesel generators are placed at elevations higher than the environment of the nuclear power plan.
“New reactor designs (Gen III and III+) use both active and passive systems and that makes it safer than before,” he added.
Although he admitted that Nuclear Power Plant takes a number of years to construct, he explained that the long period is due to the intensive planning, implementation of carefully selected processes and the exhaustive checks and balance required before the plant becomes operational.
Dr. Yamoah stated that some countries have decided to be or become nuclear energy-free by decommissioning their Nuclear Power Plants after it has served their needs successfully. Majority of the plants have almost reached their life span. In all these countries as we speak, they’re still generating electricity from Nuclear Power Plant and have developed their industries. Other Nuclear Power operating countries are building new plants and there are new comer countries on board operating their first commercial Nuclear Plants.
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Nigeria’s total crude oil and condensate production from January to October 2020 fell by 10.25 percent when compared to similar period in 2019, latest data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has shown.
According to data from Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, total oil and condensate production for January to October 2020 was 553.59 million barrels.
The figure for January to October, 2019 was 616.87 million barrels.
The report also revealed that production in September 2020 was 47.82 million barrels, a 23 percent decline from the 62.10 million barrels produced in September, 2019.
The data also showed that oil and condensate production for August 2020 was 51.15 million barrels, a drop of 20.87 percent when compared to 64.64 million barrels produced in August 2019.
For July 2020, production fell by 21.57 percent to 51.26 million barrels, compared to 65.36 million barrels recorded in July 2019. Also, oil and condensate production fell by 19.29 percent in June 2020 to 50.26 million barrels compared to 62.72 million produced in June 2019.
Data for May 2020 showed that oil and condensate production was 54.24 million barrels, a fall of 9.63 percent compared to 60.02 million barrels produced in May 2019.
The report also showed that a total of 61.09 million barrels of crude and condensate was produced in April 2020, a rise 3.37 percent compared to 59.10 million for April 2019.
The figure for March 2020 crude oil and condensate production was 63.19 million, a marginal rise of 0.7 percent compared to 62.75 million barrels in March 2019.
The report also indicated that production in February 2020 rose by 7.87 percent to 60.02 million barrels compared to 55.64 million barrels.
Also, the data for January 2020, showed that oil and condensate production rose by 5.05 percent to 64.26 million barrels compared to 61.17 million barrels produced in January 2019.
NNPC in the November MFOR explained that of the 49.94 million barrels of crude oil and condensate produced Joint Ventures, JVs, and Production Sharing Contracts, PSC, contributed about 30.73 percent and 38.77 percent respectively.
While Alternative Funding, AF, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, and Independents accounted for 11.42 percent, 9.93 per cent, and 9.15 per cent respectively. It stated that NPDC October 2019 to October 2020 cumulative production from all fields was 74,394,523 barrels of crude oil translating to an average daily production of 187,392 barrels per day.
The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the national retail outlet fuel monitoring system initiated by the country’s downstream regulator, National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
The initiative is in response to calls for the downstream petroleum regulator to introduce digitisation to deal with illegal activities regarding fuel trading.
The new initiative will help NPA to monitor the quantity of petroleum products in the storage tanks of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) at their retail outlets.
Speaking at the launching of the ultramodern facility in Accra, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said the initiative would not only improve the petroleum product distribution system but will also go a long way towards the country’s ‘Beyond Aid’ agenda.
According to him, the initiative would help the government in its effort to maximise revenue mobilisation from petroleum products.
“Taxes and levies on petroleum products are major sources of revenue for the government in pursuing its development agenda,’’ he said.
The Vice President decried the actions of some unscrupulous players in the downstream petroleum industry, which, he said continues to deny the needed revenue in that sector.
“Between 2015 and 2019, it is estimated that the government lost a total of GHS4.7 billion in tax revenue as a result of illegal activities in the petroleum downstream sector,’’ Dr. Bawumia revealed.
The Vice President noted that the illegal activities take place in the sector because of lack of transparency.
He was hopeful that the retail outlet fuel monitoring system would help block revenue leakages and improve revenue mobilisation for the government to be able to provide social services to Ghanaians.
“We are looking forward to blocking revenue leakage and mobilising revenue to ensure development,” he said.
Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who lauded the initiative, urged the OMCs, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and dealers to enroll onto the platform.
According to him, the initiative would promote economic development and ensure the profitability of the industry for all the players.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister for Energy
A Chief Inspector at NPA, Esther Anku stated that the retail outlet monitoring system is aimed at complementing measures already taken in the fight against illicit activities, saying it is expected to monitor the receipt into the retail outlets of smuggled products, products meant for export and diverted subsidised products such as premix and MGO local.
Mrs Esther Anku, Chief Inspector at the NPA
He said among other functions of the system would be augmenting the capacity of the OMCs to manage their retail outlets.
“The system records the volume of product receipts into the underground tanks both under ambient conditions and volume corrected to 20 degrees Celsius. This feature in combination with the high level accuracy tank calibration will help resolve misunderstandings that often erupt between tanker drivers and station dealers on quantity of product delivered,” she said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Vice President noted that the illegal activities take place in the sector because of lack of transparency.
He was hopeful that the retail outlet fuel monitoring system would help block revenue leakages and improve revenue mobilisation for the government to be able to provide social services to Ghanaians.
“We are looking forward to blocking revenue leakage and mobilising revenue to ensure development,” he said.
Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who lauded the initiative, urged the OMCs, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and dealers to enroll onto the platform.
According to him, the initiative would promote economic development and ensure the profitability of the industry for all the players.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com