Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on Tuesday, paid a working visit to the operational head office of the West African nation’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, in Tema to inspect ongoing project being executed by the company to boost power transmission.
The Minister held a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Ing. Jonathan Amoako-Baah and his team and later visited the systems control room to acquaint himself with what goes on in that office.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who was accompanied by some officials of the Ministry of Energy including the Chief Director Lawrence Apaalse and Director in-charge of Upstream, Benjamin Asante, later visited the site where GRIDCo is constructing 161kV transmission line to inspect the progress of work.
Briefing the Energy Minister, Director for Engineering Projects at GRIDCo, Ing. Owusu Afriyie said the Volta-Achimota-Transmission line was constructed in 1965 and had since not seen any upgrade.
He said the company is currently upgrading it to ensure that it is able to transfer more load to Accra.
Mr Afriyie explained that when completed, the lines would increase its load capacity by about three fold from the current 420MVA to about 1200MVA.
He noted that the project had commenced from the Volta sub-station which was one of GRIDCo’s Bulk Supply Point in Tema to Achimota, a distance of about 27 kilometres.
GRIDCo engineers working on the 161kV transmission lines
“By the completion of this project, we will have more power to the Achimota sub-station transferred from the Volta substation to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to distribute,” he said.
Speaking to the press, Dr Prempeh dismissed assertions in the media that the country has returned to the era of power crisis popularly called ‘dumsor’ in the local parlance.
According to him, the ongoing system upgrade is responsible for the intermittent power outage being experienced in the country.
“We should all be sincere and truthful in our communication. In 2016, the whole country was given periods when we were to receive power and when to be off. In 2016, the government of the day told us it was a generation problem. Even the opposition then said the government did not have money to buy fuel to power the generators. This is not a generation problem; this is not about fuel so how can we call it dumsor?” he queried.
He said the government had included in this year’s budget the provision to improve on the electricity supply systems and it is going to continue until the system improves.
“We are working feverishly to resolve the challenges which have arisen as a result of technical difficulties with our transmission lines, and it is our hope that, that issue will be resolved by the end of the year,” he said.
He said Ghanaians would have to “bear with the contractors so they finish in time so we can enjoy the improvement we so desire. We have systems where lights are flickering, voltages are low and the line is down and that is exactly why we have what we have,” the Minister explained.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The technology group Wärtsilä has highlighted a striking need to scale up flexibility in South Africa, in the form of energy storage and flexible gas technology, to enable a 100% renewable energy future.
28 GW of flexible assets are needed for South Africa’s energy systems to run on 100% renewable energy at the lowest cost. The capacity needed to balance South Africa’s switch to grids powered by intermittent renewables must come from two key technologies: over 21 GW of energy storage and over 6.8 GW of flexible gas power capacity, capable of running on future fuels. Future fuels can be produced during periods when renewables produce more electricity than is needed.
Wayne Glossop, South Africa Business Development Manager, Wärtsilä Energy, said: “Last month’s UN climate report gives a clear message for South Africa: to decarbonise at the lowest cost, high levels of renewable energy must be scaled up by 2030. What we have learned from modelling over 145 countries and regions in our Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy is that power systems with high levels of renewables need a significant amount of flexibility, through energy storage and gas balancing technology, to achieve the transition to 100% renewable energy future.
“By building high shares of renewables, we can create the conditions to produce carbon-neutral Future Fuels that can decarbonise all energy intensive sectors, from power to mobility. To solve this final piece of the net-zero puzzle, the answer once again is to urgently build more renewables, supported by future-proof flexibility solutions.”
South Africa’s need for 28GW of agile flexible solutions reflects the country’s exceptionally high potential to meet its demand almost exclusively with wind and solar energy, and the requirement for significant power storage capacity when wind and solar is no longer generating.
To meet South Africa’s clear need for grid flexibility, Wärtsilä has today launched grid balancing technology – capable of ramping up to 10+ MW in two minutes – to bridge utilities to a 100% renewable energy future at the lowest cost.
Wärtsilä’s grid balancing technology is part of a portfolio of products designed to cost effectively accelerate the energy transition. The portfolio consists of power plants, energy storage and energy management systems. The first power plant solution in the portfolio is powered by the upgraded Wärtsilä 34SG Balancer engine, optimised for renewable baseload markets; an agile, fast-starting gas engine capable of ramping up to 10.8 MW in two minutes to seamlessly integrate with renewables. The power plant solution is based on lean design, and it can be equipped with features such as unmanned standby, remote control capabilities, 24/7 data streaming and dynamic power management. Optimised performance and reliability are supported by Wärtsilä Lifecycle solutions.
Wärtsilä’s power plant gas engines can currently run on natural gas, biogas, synthetic methane or hydrogen blends.
The company is actively developing the combustion process to allow the burning of 100% hydrogen and other future fuels. Wärtsilä has a long track record of successful fuel conversions for the global installed engine base.
A significant degree of overcapacity is needed to account for the variability of wind and solar generation. Excess electricity is then utilised to produce future fuels with Power-to-X technology. The modelling finds that balancing the intermittency of the renewable production with a combination of flexible gas and energy storage would be 38% cheaper for the G20, in comparison to relying on energy storage alone.
Alongside the power plant solution, Wärtsilä offers its fully integrated GridSolv energy storage technology, designed for ease of deployment and sustainable energy optimisation, and its GEMS Digital Energy Platform. GEMS dynamically optimises energy systems through a broad range of applications, like frequency regulation, to create revenue streams and enhance grid/system resilience.
Jukka Lehtonen, Vice President for Technology & Product Management at Wärtsilä Energy, said: “Currently, the industry is in a challenging situation. Investments need to be made today even if visibility of the future is not fully clear. We have developed, in an agile manner, a solution based on existing, proven technology which is future-proof and flexible. The solution can be adapted to different operational profiles and running hours, along with evolving needs of the system. Using our solution, renewables can be integrated seamlessly into different energy mixes as they become available.”
The modelling on the G20’s comprehensive need for flexibility is based on Wärtsilä’s Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy, which shows the cost-optimal capacity mix for 100% renewable electricity systems in 145 countries and regions around the world.
Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has appealed to Ghanaians to remain assured that GRIDCo is working to resolve all the challenges in areas experiencing power outages.
“I entreat all Ghanaians in the affected areas to be patient as the issues relating to our current power situation are being addressed and ultimately resolved,” the Energy Minister said in a post on his Facebook wall on Tuesday.
The Minister announced that he is visiting the operational head office of GRIDCo in Tema as part of his familiarisation tour of the fifteen agencies under the Ministry of Energy.
“This morning, I will be paying a visit to the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) head office in Tema as part of my familiarisation tour of agencies under the Ministry of Energy.
“I will first interact with leadership of the company on issues relating to the power transmission systems affecting the constant supply of electricity in the country. My visit will also include GRIDCo’s System Control Centre as well as a field trip to observe and be briefed on projects being undertaken to upgrade our transmission lines,” his post concluded.
Ghana has been experiencing intermittent power outages in recent times.
The power transmission company has blamed the situation on technical issues and has promised to resolve them.
Thirteen labourers were reportedly injured after a scaffolding on which they stood to work at a power plant in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra District in India collapsed.
The company, in a letter addressed to the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.
According to the factory manager of Lanco Anpara Power Ltd, S K Dwived, the iron structure collapsed at about 2.45am on Sunday during maintenance work.
While eight labourers were discharged after treatment, another five were in a serious condition and had been admitted to a government hospital, he explained.
Out of the five labourers in hospital, three sustained head injuries, one suffered a broken hand and another fractured his leg, Dwivedi said.
“All are out of danger,” he added.
Dismissing reports in a section of media about a boiler blast at the power plant, Dwivedi narrated: “The unit was closed for maintenance since March 22 and the maintenance work will go on for around one month. The scaffolding on which the labourers were standing suddenly came down. Luckily, they were wearing helmets and no labourer was standing beneath them.
“The company will conduct an internal inquiry to ascertain the cause of the accident,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognisance of the incident and directed the additional chief secretary (Energy) to probe the matter.
Adityanath said the probe should fix responsibility for the incident and effective action should be taken at the earliest time.
He also directed the local administration to ensure that the injured received proper treatment.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Oil and Gas services provider, MODEC, has been suspended from participating in new competitive bidding by Brazilian national oil company Petrobras.
MODEC, in a statement posted on its website, said it received a notification from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. that its eligibility to participate in new competitive bidding by Petrobras has been suspended for 13 months effective March 31, 2021.
The main basis for this administrative sanction, the company said, is because of losses to Petrobras presumably caused by the performance of three Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels under charter services that MODEC has provided in the past and/or is presently providing to Petrobras.
These FPSOs are the FPSO Cidade do Rio de Janeiro MV14, whose charter contract expired in 2019, and two FPSOs which are currently chartered to Petrobras namely, the FPSO Cidade de Niterói MV18 and the FPSO Cidade de Santos MV20, according to the notification.
“There is no expectation of further developments or implications, including on MODEC’s financials, as this administrative sanction does not impact the execution of the current contracts in place between MODEC and Petrobras,” the company said.
According to MODEC, it remains committed to improving its practices in order to eliminate any issues in its activities under the current contracts.
“MODEC continues to see Brazil as its main and most promising market, and reaffirms its commitment to the oil and gas sector, with the excellence that has always been linked to its name during the more than 15 years in Brazil, with its employees, customers and suppliers,” the company concluded.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The President and Chief Executive Officer of Japan’s floating solutions provider, MODEC, Yuji Kozai has resigned.
According to MODEC, Yuji Kozai’s reason for his resignation was based on ill-health.
Following the resignation, Yuji Kozai has taken on the role of Executive Advisor to the company.
The company has appointed Takeshi Kanamori as the new Representative Director, President & CEO, effective April 5, 2021.
Kanamori joined MODEC in 2013 as External Director.
Before this appointment, Kanamori was the Executive Vice President.
In a message on MODEC’s website, the company’s new CEO, Kanamori said: “The global energy demand will continue to grow. Oil demand will increase steadily and the use of natural gas, a major clean energy source, will continue to gain strong momentum.
“We will optimise our business portfolio while pioneering new business areas, especially in offshore wind power utilisation and seabed mineral resources harvesting, with the objective of contributing to the creation of a brighter future for our world,” he said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, has attributed Saturday’s night power outages in parts of the Greater Accra Region to a falling of one of the conductors on the East Accra transmission line.
According to GRIDCo, the conductor fell at Trassaco, a suburb of Accra, capital of Ghana.
In a statement issued by the Corporate Affairs Unit of GRIDCo, it explained that the maintenance team was able to work round the clock to restore power to the Mallam Achimota and Central Accra Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) at about 4:00am on Sunday, April 4, 2021.
“Power supply has, however, been reduced to 50 percent in areas around Trassaco as the team works to permanently fix the fault,” the company said.
Sierra Leone is seeking sustainable partnership from external donors to be able to deal with the fiscal pressure on the country’s electricity sector as the government subsidy policy begins to bite hard.
Addressing stakeholders in the energy sector at a roundtable in Freetown recently, President of the West African nation, His Excellency Dr Julius Maada Bio revealed that the government spent in excess of Le140 Billion ($13,709,472.00) to subsidise electricity supply in 2020 alone.
“I am concerned about the pressure on Government finances, but I believe that we can collaborate as partners to find a sustainable financial model that will serve us in the long-term. Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, partner and foreign funding sources to support the energy sector have dwindled somewhat. But the need for available and affordable electricity has not diminished,” he said.
According to him, the meeting was “to discuss and assess the key issues and challenges of the sector, and agree on priority areas for intervention, through a collaborative effort of the government and partners,” in ways that aligned with the policy direction they had mapped out as a government.
He said they had identified priorities for the sector because they believed that reliable, affordable, accessible and clean power was critical for the development of the country’s economy.
He noted that in addition to supporting his government’s human capital development priorities, they also recognised that enhanced energy security would support investments, which in turn would create opportunities and jobs.
“A greater proportion of clean energy in the mix especially for rural-off-grid areas also supports climate change resilience. Toward those objectives, our partners have generously supported initiatives to deliver reliable electricity. Permit me to identify a few of these initiatives: The unbundling of vertically integrated NPA to create EDSA, EGTC and EWRC; the implementation of standard operating procedures and metrics for EDSA with the support of the World Bank Management Contractor.”
Minister for Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay said the presence of His Excellency Julius Maada Bio at the opening of the roundtable discussions was a show of his commitment to revamping the energy sector.
He added that the discussion would focus on priority sector issues, making ways forward with initiatives that support the requirements of the MCC Compact.
“Sierra Leone is a recipient of funds from international donors for the electrification of towns project. The government is committed to building partnerships with private sector players to ease the burden on the government,” he said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
By: Mudasiru Mahama
On Sunday 7th of March 2021 when Ghanaians were still celebrating the 64th anniversary of independence, the country experienced a sudden total power shutdown throughout the country. This prompted the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the sole transmission company in Ghana to immediately release a press statement informing Ghanaians of the challenges it is facing.
Part of the statement read “a challenge in the power system led to total system shutdown leading to an interruption in the power to all parts of the country”. A challenge they could not immediately ascertain the cause of the unfortunate total system shutdown in the country.
However, on the 8th of March 2021 GRIDCo released another press statement this time around to explain to the public the cause of the system shut down on the 7th. It indicated that “a technical fault on one of the major transmission lines between Prestea and Obuasi which led to an overload on other adjacent transmission lines, leading to a sequence of trips and an eventual power system shutdown in the country”.
The transmission Company assured Ghanaians that whiles they are working on the challenges; there are enough generating capacities to meet the demands of the country and therefore no need to worry about. It is unfortunate for this occurrence, and it tells us how vulnerable our grid is. This is a security threat for a fault to shut down the entire country and steps need to be taken to build a more robust system to withstand unexpected shutdowns.
In the light of this assurance, some parts of the country continue to experience power outages. It is worthy to note that before these interruptions in the power system, the country has in recent times been experiencing some power interruptions frequently, an issue GRIDCo attributed to being the closure of an emergency valve at the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) cutting off the gas supply to some generating plants in the country. These and a series of power outages have left Ghanaians thinking if ‘Dumsor’ (a local term for frequent power outages) has been returned like we have seen in the past especially between 2012 and 2016 when it was coined? If not, what is the cause of the recent power outages? Perhaps if the challenges are beyond the reach of the utility companies, they need to develop a power shedding. This will be necessary to respond to unplanned events to protect the power system from a total shutdown.
We might be closed to the 2013 -2015 experiences, but we are not there yet due to the differences in circumstances between now and then. The power outages of the past had critical issues beyond the control of the utility companies and the Government and were very difficult to avert immediately. Critical among the past challenges were; drastic fall in the water levels of hydro dams leading to low generation from hydropower plants, high indebtedness to Nigeria which was the major gas supplier through WAGP, inadequate power generating plants, indebtedness of the utility companies and government to power suppliers, obsolete transmission and distribution infrastructure leading to technical and commercial losses, managerial challenges, etc. The first three challenges are currently no major issues in Ghana as the country has overcome them in one way or the other. Water levels to power hydro turbines are high now, there is a drastic reduction in reliance on gas from Nigeria as a result of local gas production, the inadequate power generating plants have been resolved through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the heat of the power crisis of 2012-2016 by the previous government.
The challenges in the sector saw power schedule from about 24 hours with light and 12 hours without light to 12 hours with light and 24 hours without light. The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) estimated that between 2012 and 2015 power outages caused small and medium manufacturing firms to lose about GHS250 million with firms losing about 12% of their output monthly.
The writer
Is the power situation now the same as in the past? No!. In the year 2000, the total installed power capacity was 1,652MW of which 1,358MW was dependable and a peak load of 1,161MW. The peak demand of dependable capacity was about 85.5%. In 2014, the total installed capacity increased to 2,831MW which was the same as in 2013. Dependable capacity was 2,569MW and a peak load of 1,970MW. Thus, a 76.7% of the dependable capacity. In 2019, installed capacity stood at 5,172MW with a dependable capacity of 4,695MW and a peak load of 2,881 translating to 61.4% of dependable capacity. Installed capacity in 2020 was 5,204.5MW with a peak demand of 2,881.60MW as of October 2020.
There is a clear indication that the country now has enough generating plants available for power generation. Whereas, the country has seen a 102.6% increase in installed generation capacity between 2014 and 2020, peak demand only increased by 46.2% for the same period. The drastic increase in installed capacity can be associated with the signing of PPAs to bring onboard emergency power plants in the heat of the power crisis in 2012-2016. This has led to power stability that has been witnessed from late 2016 to now.
However, some PPAs signed at that time on “take or pay” contractual agreement is putting a financial burden on state-owned utility companies and the government as it is estimated that about $500 million is paid to IPPs on unconsumed power due to existing agreements.
Also, Ghana which used to rely heavily on hydropower generation has shifted more to thermal power plants. Hydropower generation dependence in 2000, 2014 and 2019 was 91.5%, 64.7% and 39.9% respectively in the generation mix. It, therefore, means seasonal variation in the volume of hydro dams had serious replications on the power generation system. Higher levels of the dam mean enough water for power generation and vice versa. The Akosombo dam which has an installed capacity of 1,020 MW requires a minimum level of 240 ft and a maximum of 278 ft to operate efficiently.
However, in 2014 the monthly average water level in Akosombo was 248.9 ft compared to 257.2ft in 2019 and as of 5th March 2020, the water level was 261 ft. The water level at Akosombo as of 5th March 2021 was 265 ft. Water is therefore available for electricity generation now compared to 2014.
Again, gas supply has improved in recent times compared to 2016-2016. In the past, the country depended on gas supply mainly from Nigeria and due to the country’s indebtedness to Nigeria, supply was in most cases interrupted and sometimes cut completely from WAGP resulting in power outages. Thankfully, domestic production of gas has increased reducing the reliance on gas from Nigeria. Gas supplies from Nigeria for power generation reduced from 46% in 2018 to 36.6% in 2019. The Energy commission projected that gas for power generation will mostly come from local fields as the price of imported gas continues to be high. The average price of delivered gas from Nigeria was $7.01/mmBTU and that of local gas was uniform across the year at $6.08/mmBTU in 2019. The current high dependence on local gas has brought a huge relief on power generation as heavy fuel plants are currently being converted to gas-fired plants. Steps to further diversify the generation mix led to the construction of a grid-tied solar plant of 2.5 MW in 2013 and as of 2019 renewable plants stood at 42.6MW. The country has the potential of producing enough power from renewable energy sources especially solar and wind on a grid-scale. This led to the development of a renewable energy master plan with the plan to have up to 1,094.63 MW of grid-connected renewable sources in the generation mix from the current figure by 2030.
Losses in both transmission and distribution systems continue to be a worry to the country and these losses have not changed significantly over the years. This is posing a lot of pressure on the distribution and transmission companies. Maintenance over the years has not been as expected leaving the system vulnerable to huge losses. For example, losses between purchases and sales of power in 2000, 2014 and 2019 were 27.2%, 25.1% and 24.7% respectively. These losses are attributed to both commercial and technical losses. The utility companies need to upgrade their infrastructure to reduce losses.
There is a need to employ technology to monitor the tempering of distribution facilities and meters by unscrupulous people who take advantage of the weaknesses in the system.
In as much as the current power outages have been blamed on technical hitches, it cannot be said to be completely true as it is a mix of technical and financial challenges. In more recent times the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers had served a notice to withdraw their services of power supply if ECG and government fail to settle at least 80% of the $1 billion due them. For some of these challenges to be resolved there is the need to critically evaluate the operations of ECG and possibly look for private participation in the form of either total privatization or on concession base. The failure of PDS should not deter us from taking such as step as it is the surest bet to manage and profit from the power distribution sector. There is the need to also consider creating competition in the distribution sector especially in the ECG operational area. That is opening the distribution sub-sector up for other participants like we have successfully done in the generation sub-sector. Perhaps having one or two additional distributors in addition to ECG will create healthy competition in serving power consumers.
The writer, Mudasiru Mahama is an Energy Analyst and can be reached on 0245141507 or via email: [email protected]
Oil and gas company Tullow Oil has completed the sale of its assets in Equatorial Guinea to Oslo-listed Panoro Energy.
Tullow Oil said last Wednesday that it had already received a payment of $88.8 million for the assets earlier in the day.
The company added that the transaction also includes contingent cash payments of up to $16 million which were linked to asset performance and oil price.
Tullow agreed to sell its subsidiaries with assets in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to Panoro for up to $180 million.
Tullow’s E. Guinea subsidiary, Tullow Equatorial Guinea Limited (TEGL), now owned by Panoro, holds a 14.25 per cent non-operated working interest in Block G, which contains the Ceiba and Okume Complex assets, offshore Equatorial Guinea. Block G is operated by Trident Energy.
The company added that Tullow would continue to have a financial link to the assets in Ceiba and Okume fields, the closing of this transaction meant Tullow’s exit from its licences in Equatorial Guinea after 18 years.
On receipt of funds, Tullow has a net debt of around $2.3 billion and liquidity headroom of around $1 billion.
Tullow also said that the Dussafu asset sale in Gabon to Panoro is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2021. A further $5 million consideration is due to be paid to Tullow after both transactions with Panoro have completed.
Tullow owns a 10 per cent stake in Dussafu, and Panoro will end up paying up to $70 million for it.
Panoro expect the net production from these assets to be approximately 5,000 bopd in 2021.
John Hamilton, CEO of Panoro, said: “The acquisition of the Block G assets from Tullow marks the first of two closing steps in our previously announced transactions. Together, these transactions are transformational for Panoro, increasing our production and reserves position by a factor of 3-4 times.
“We are very pleased to be joining the Block G JV partnership. We would like to thank the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy in Equatorial Guinea for their excellent cooperation to date, and we look forward to creating value together for the country, the JV partners, and wider stakeholders”.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s only refinery, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), has rejected claims by Woodfields Energy Resources Ltd, one of its clients, that it has caused a shortfall in their product volumes to the tune of US$5.7 million.
The oil and gas firm, in a statement issued to respond to media reports suggesting that it owed the state firm, stated that its checks revealed that the refinery rather has caused them to lose about $5.7 million in products volumes.
However, a statement issued by TOR on Thursday rejected the assertion by Woodfields Energy Resources Ltd.
According to TOR, at no point in the ongoing product material balance between them and Woodfields had any such shortfall being established.
The company expressed shock at Woodfields Energy Resources for creating such an erroneous impression in the media that TOR caused a shortfall in their products in the company’s tanks.
“TOR values the professional relationship established with Woodfields and all our clients and will, therefore, not resort to ways that will jeopardise same.
“TOR assures all our customers of its commitment to delivering its services to the highest standards,” the company said.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Mozambican Oil and Gas Chamber has condemned the terrorist attacks in Palma on the 25th of March in the strongest possible terms and expresses its heartfelt condolences to all the victims of the attacks.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bereaved, injured and displaced,’’ the chamber said.
Terrorism is a scourge and it must never be let to prevail. The Chamber will therefore like to express its full support to the Mozambique Armed Defense Forces under the leadership of H.E. President Filipe Nyusi who responded swiftly to contain the attacks to save lives and property. We are confident, that the government will eventually secure a lasting solution to the problems in Cabo Delgado and provide a conducive environment for the realization of multi-billion-dollar investments in Mozambique.
“We are committed to working with the government, energy companies and civil society to ensure that such acts were not allowed to disrupt stability of Mozambique and the execution of important energy projects that are so important to our country’s economic growth and the advancement of global prosperity”, Said Florival Mucave, CEO of the Mozambican Oil & Gas Chamber.
The three-year insurgency in Cabo Delgado province has to date killed more than 2,600 people and displaced an estimated 670,000, according to the UN.
These attacks are especially directed at disrupting investment in oil and gas projects in Mozambique and terrorizing the local population. The attack on Palma was specifically aimed at undermining the $23bn game changing Mozambique LNG project led by Total.
As the largest Foreign Direct Investment on the African continent, the Mozambique LNG project positions Mozambique to become the third largest gas exporter globally by 2045.
It is expected to double Mozambique’s GDP by 2035, underscoring the transformational impact of this project on the country, it’s citizens and neighboring states. It will fundamentally recast the fortunes of Mozambique from one of the poorest countries in the world to possibly a middle-income country.
”We call on the international community to support the government of Mozambique in its efforts to deal with terrorism in Cabo Delgado.”
Terrorism is a global problem and Mozambique must therefore not be left to deal with it alone.
The chamber continues to strongly advocate for the gas developments and associated projects in Mozambique as a key driver of economic opportunity. Economic development is the only way to promote sustainable development, eradicate poverty, reduce unemployment amongst Mozambique’s youthful population and build competent local capacity in Mozambique.
The Mozambican oil and gas chamber pledges to work closely with the Mozambican Government, foreign investors and local stakeholders to build capacity amongst local entrepreneurs and position them to take the numerous opportunities that Mozambique offers. We will work tirelessly to fulfill the expectations of millions of Mozambicans by ensuring the delivery of Mozambique LNG’s first gas by 2024.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, is urging Ghanaians to bear with the government as it takes steps to fix the challenges in the country’s power transmission and distribution network.
The West African nation has been experiencing pockets of power cuts with authorities blaming the situation on technical challenges in the transmission and distribution network.
The country’s power transmitter, GRIDCo has offered explanations to the development and assured customers of efforts being made to address the situation.
However, a section of the population seem not to get the drift as they continually claimed the country has returned to the era of power crisis popularly termed ‘dumsor’ in the local parlance.
Some have also argued that the current development has to do with the rising debts in the energy sector.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, capital of Ghana, on Thursday, the Energy Minister stated that the recent power outages had nothing to do with generation but rather technical challenges in the transmission network.
Relying on the detailed explanations provided by the Director for System Operations at GRIDCo, Ing. Mark Baah, and CEO of GRIDCo, Ing. Jonathan Amoako-Baah, the Energy Minister said: “The challenges we face sometimes lead to outages here and there. Just like the technical people said there is no generation problem. Yesterday power outage, as has been explained to us, was caused by reduced pressure of the gas that was going to the generator and that could not have been foreseen or planned by anybody.
Ing. Jonathan Amoako-Baah, CEO of GRIDCO at the Press Conference on Thursday
“And because most of our generators are now relying on gas and gas comes through only a few pipelines to all these generators, the effects of gas shortage affect many generators than if individual plants were being fueled by diesel or crude oil independently.”
Ing. Mark Baah, Director for System Operations at GRIDCo
Addressing the debt issue, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh also revealed steps the government has taken to address the energy sector debt.
He said apart from the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, which allows ECG to collect revenue from power sales and shared generators, distributors, fuel suppliers and transmitter’s government has also introduced Gas Clearing Fund and Delta Fund to help deal with the debt.
Assurance
The Energy Minister stressed that the government acknowledges the weakness in the transmission and distribution network and is working to strengthen the system to improve on electricity supply across the country.
“We hope Ghanaians will bear with us in these trying times so we can improve the system to get the consistent electricity supply,’’ he said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
A Ghanaian oil and gas firm, Woodfields Energy Resources Limited has stated it was not indebted to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to a tune of $5,000,000 and has refused to make payments.
A statement issued by the head of the legal department of Woodfields Energy Resources on Wednesday said, “Woodfields has honoured all its payment obligations for processing fees to TOR and is not indebted to TOR for any processing fee charges”.
“Woodfields has observed through our stock accounting records certain shortfalls in our product volumes held in tanks at TOR to the tune of about USD5.7M,’’ the company said.
The company said, “Per standard practice for processing agreements, we have engaged TOR in a material balance (product reconciliation) to ascertain the shortfall”.
The statement said Woodfields notified TOR in December 2020 of its desire to suspend any payments until after the material balance reconciliation which was presently underway.
“However, to demonstrate good faith and in recognition of the reconciliation exercise taking longer than anticipated, we have made payments in excess of $1,000,000.00 to TOR since the commencement of the exercise in January 2021,” the statement stated.
The statement explained that, “Woodfields and its affiliates have had consistent engagement with TOR over the last three decades within which period it has initiated mutually beneficial ventures, enabling the refinery to increase and improve its facilities.”
The company said in August 2019 it started a processing arrangement with TOR that granted it the right to process a total of eleven million barrels of light crude oil, which is still in operation as of March this year.
“It must be mentioned that this is the first time in the recent history of the refinery that it has managed to operate a Light Crude Oil (LCO) processing agreement in a sustained manner over such a long period,” the statement said.
“This achievement spearheaded by Woodfields which took the sole risk of securing funds and worked closely with TOR, both commercially and technically for the successful outcome,” the statement explained.
The statement called on the general public, well-meaning members of society and industry players to completely disregard any publication that seek to paint a wrong picture as to the nature and style of the company and its operations in the country.
The statement said: “Woodfields is a credible business with a strong belief in ethics and fairness”.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
“We are working feverishly to resolve the challenges which have arisen as a result of technical difficulties with our transmission lines, and it is our hope that, that issue will be resolved by the end of the year,” he said.
He said Ghanaians would have to “bear with the contractors so they finish in time so we can enjoy the improvement we so desire. We have systems where lights are flickering, voltages are low and the line is down and that is exactly why we have what we have,” the Minister explained.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
