The Government of Ghana has filed a response to the suit by the Italian oil and gas firm, Eni, at the International Tribunal in London, United Kingdom.
Ghana’s Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame disclosed this in a telephone conversation but declined to give details of the government’s response to the case.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, who recently expressed unhappiness about Eni’s decision to sue the government, despite closed-door meetings to resolve the issue, however, assured of his resolve to find an amicable resolution of the matter.
Eni is challenging a directive by Ghana’s Ministry of Energy, asking them to unitise the Sankofa Field and Afina oil block operated by Springfield E&P, a wholly Ghanaian upstream player.
In a statement filed by three renowned lawyers namely Craig Tevendale, Andrew Cannon and Charlie Morgan from the Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Eni is seeking five reliefs from the Tribunal.
The claimant wants the Tribunal to declare that the purported 9th April Directive, 14th October Directive, 6th November Directive and any other steps taken to implement those directives represent a breach of contract under the Petroleum Agreement.
The claimant also wants the Tribunal to declare that the respondents take no further action to implement the purported unitisation of the Sankofa Field and Afina Discovery on the terms of the purported 14th October Directive, the Draft UUOA sought to be imposed by the purported November Directive or otherwise.
The third relief the claimant is seeking is an order that the respondent pays damages in an amount to be quantified for the losses suffered by the claimant arising out of the respondent’s breaches of the petroleum agreement, Ghanaian law and International Law on a joint and several bases.
Additionally, the claimant is seeking an order that the respondent pays all of the costs and expenses of the arbitration including the fees and expenses of the claimant counsel and any witnesses and/or experts in the Arbitration, the fees and expenses of the Tribunal and the fees of the SCC on a joint and several bases and/or order such further or other relief as the Tribunal may in its discretion consider appropriate.
It would be recalled that in April 2020, Ghana’s former Minister for Energy, John Peter Amewu issued a directive to Eni and Springfield E&P to begin talks and combine their adjacent oil and gas fields in April and gave them until September 18 to reach an agreement.
The Minister’s directive said that seismic data had indicated that Eni’s Sankofa offshore field, which entered production in 2017, and Springfield’s Afina Discovery had identical reservoir and fluid properties.
“Regrettably, it has become obvious that the parties do not intend to comply with the ministry of energy’s directives,” the letter signed by Minister John Peter Amewu said.
A year after the directive, both Eni and Springfield E&P have failed to unitise the Sankofa offshore field and Afina Discovery.
Springfield took the case to a high court in Accra, Ghana.
The court, in its ruling, directed Eni to escrow 30 per cent of proceeds from the Sankofa offshore field pending the final determination of the case.
The Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) has approved a four-year $25 million Threshold Programme between it and the Government of The Gambia.
During its quarterly meeting on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, the MCC’s Board also approved the Fiscal Year 2022 Selection Criteria and Methodology Report and received an update on the status of the MCC Nepal Compact following the recent senior-level MCC visit to the country in early September to advance ratification.
“MCC is pleased to partner with the Government of The Gambia and support building the country’s institutional capacity.
“Through select reforms, the Government of The Gambia will develop more effective, accountable and transparent governance-and improve operations–in the electricity sector,’’ the MCC’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mahmoud Bah said in a press statement issued by the MCC.
In addition to approving the threshold, the Board voted to extend the $450 million MCC-Morocco Employability and Land Compact, which was signed in 2015 and designed to boost Morocco’s economic growth through investment in the land and education sectors.
The MCC was granted the authority to extend compacts experiencing delays due to the COVID-19 in December 2020.
The Morocco compact extension will provide an additional $10.5 million in oversight and administrative expenses.
In addition to Morocco, the MCC’s Board has previously extended and increased the Gambia’s Power Compact by $7.6 million and the Benin Power Compact by $16 million.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. Government agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created in 2004, the MCC provides time-limited grants and assistance to countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.
In a widening energy crisis, China is expanding power use restrictions to at least 20 regions and provinces that contribute more than half to the Chinese economy, adding a bearish risks-off sentiment on global markets, including in the oil market.
Twenty regions that account for over 66 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s second-biggest economy have already announced some forms of restrictions on electricity use, especially in heavy and energy-intensive industries, Bloomberg reports.
The power outages have spread from factories to homes, with residents in northeast China impacted by hours-long unexpected blackouts, Caixin Global reports.
Amid tight power supplies and soaring coal prices, power outages in China have started to hit factories of various energy-intensive industries, sparking renewed fears about larger disruptions to global supply chains on top of the COVID-related issues.
As coal prices surge amid a global energy crunch, Chinese authorities are mandating restrictions in energy use, which have led to outages at factories and homes.
The power crunch has reached the automotive industry and workers at GAC Aion, the electric vehicle unit of the largest state carmaker, Guangzhou Automobile Group, have been told to turn off air conditioning, lights, printers, and other office equipment when not in use, in order to conserve energy that’s not critical for car manufacturing, Bloomberg reports.
Toyota, one of the world’s largest automakers, has not been spared the fallout from the power crisis, either. Toyota’s operations in China are suffering the electricity rationing, spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
At Chinese factories, the power cuts have affected manufacturing sites that supply Apple and Tesla, among others, Reuters reported on Monday. Some suppliers of the two large U.S. companies have halted production in China amid the power crisis.
Apart from the automotive and semiconductor manufacturing industries, Chinese producers of steel, aluminum, furniture, toys, and dyes are also hit by the outages.
Source:Oilprice.com
The Kenyan government has begun a public enquiry into rampant hikes in fuel prices which are causing public uproar against the government.
The government has constituted a parliamentary committee of inquiry to receive petitions and complaints from the general public to ascertain the causes of increases in petroleum products and address the issues.
The committee began its work on Tuesday, September 28, 2021.
The committee’s terms of reference, among other things, are to establish the cause of the drastic increase in the price of petroleum and petroleum products and ascertain whether there are other causes of price increase apart from taxes and levies; to inquire into the amount of revenue raised from each of the taxes and levies paid on petroleum and petroleum products per month; to seek alternative ways of raising revenue instead of the imposition of taxes on petroleum products and to propose legislation to address the concerns by the petitioners.
Kenyans are paying Sh134.72 ($1.225) for a litre of petrol and Sh115.60 ($1.051) for a litre of diesel while kerosene is now sold at Sh110.82 ($1.008) per litre.
This followed an announcement by the country’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
The Authority said that prices are inclusive of the eight per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2018, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2020, and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation as per Legal Notice No. 194 of 2020.
The Ibadan Electricity Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), one of the electricity distribution companies in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has restated its commitment to the completion of the construction work on the Abeokuta-Sagamu-Mowe 33KV dual-circuit line.
According to IBEDC, the completion of the project will enable communities at Mowe, Magboro, Ibafo and their environs to benefit from the newly commissioned Abeokuta Transmission Station at Kobane.
A statement signed by the company’s Chief Technical Officer, Engr. Akin Abiodun revealed that the ongoing construction of the double circuit 33kV overhead lines from the new transmission station, through the Sagamu Interchange to Mowe, was divided into five segments, and awarded to different contractors to hasten completion.
He said currently, four segments of the project have been completed, which represent 80 per cent completion.
He further said the completed sections of the lines have been soaked, while the remaining 20 per cent of the segment is on-site working assiduously to ensure the completion of the project soon.
Engr. Abiodun, however, explained that there is a bottleneck created by the ongoing construction of the third over-head bridge at kilometre 55, a few kilometres to the Sagamu interchange. This has prevented the linkage of the existing 33KV line with the new lines that are proposed to serve as an alternative to the line coming from the Oke-Aro TCN sub-station.
Engr. Abiodun, on behalf of the Management of IBEDC, appealed to the customers at Mowe, Ibafo, Magboro and their environs to remain patient and be rest assured of improved supply in the shortest possible time.
“IBEDC is not insensitive to the present irregular supply being experienced in Mowe, Ibafo, Magboro and their environs. We sincerely apologise for all inconveniences this present situation might have caused our esteemed customers.
“We are also appealing to our unmetered customers in this locality to rest assured of getting metered through the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) and any other scheme that may be approved by the regulator,” Engr. Abiodun said.
Tullow Oil Plc, senior leadership team (SLT) led by the Chief Executive Officer, Rahul Dhir has paid a working visit to Ghana, West Africa.
The visiting Executives who arrived on Monday will hold a series of engagements with key Government of Ghana stakeholders, including the Office of the Vice President, Ministry of Energy, the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Stock Exchange and some selected institutions.
The one week working visit will give the Senior Leadership Team the opportunity to share Tullow’s renewed Corporate Strategy, Net Zero plans and provide an update on the Group’s progress towards investing over US$4 billion in Ghana over the next 10 years through a multi-year drilling programme which started earlier this year.
Managing Director for Tullow Ghana, Wissam Al Monthiry said “This is an important visit that will allow the whole Senior Leadership Team to discuss Tullow’s plans and progress with our key stakeholders across Ghana. This is the first time the SLT have made a trip like this since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and I am excited to see the whole team back in Ghana.”
The visiting delegation consists of Tullow Chief Executive Officer Rahul Dhir, Chief Finance Officer Les Wood, Managing Director for Ghana, Wissam Al Monthiry, General Counsel Mike Walsh and Director, People and Sustainability Julia Ross.
Demand for oil will grow sharply in the next few years as the global economy recovers from the pandemic, OPEC said on Tuesday, adding that the world needs to keep investing in oil production to avert a crunch even as the energy transition is under way.
The view from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries contrasts with others such as an International Energy Agency report, which in May said investors should not fund new oil projects if the world wants to reach net zero emissions.
Oil use will rise by 1.7 million barrels per day in 2023 to 101.6 million bpd, OPEC said its 2021 World Oil Outlook, adding to robust growth already predicted for 2021 and 2022 , and pushing demand back above the pre-pandemic 2019 rate.
“Energy and oil demand have picked up significantly in 2021 after the massive drop in 2020,” OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo wrote in the foreword to the report. “Continued expansion is forecast for the longer term.”
With oil demand recovering, OPEC and its allies such as Russia – a grouping known as OPEC+ – are unwinding record oil supply cuts made last year. But there are signs some OPEC+ producers are unable to pump more due in part to a lack of investment, and that has boosted prices.
OPEC also lowered its estimates for longer-term oil demand in the report, citing changes to consumer behaviour brought by the pandemic and competition from electric cars. Global demand is expected to plateau after 2035, it said.
Last year’s report said world oil demand would exceed 2019’s rate in 2022, not 2023. Now, world oil demand is expected to reach 106.6 million bpd in 2030, down 600,000 bpd from last year’s figure.
Assuming a faster take-up of existing technology, the Accelerated Policy and Technology Scenario, demand could be falling by the 2030s, according to an OPEC chart showing a more pronounced demand drop-off than a similar chart last year.
“Tele/homeworking is becoming a norm for many companies as a result of the pandemic,” OPEC said.
“Long-term oil demand growth will be limited by growing penetration of electric vehicles.”
Underinvestment
Last year OPEC+ agreed record output cuts of 9.7 million bpd, the equivalent of 10% of global supply.
With demand recovering, those barrels are being returned to the market but OPEC said it was essential to step up investment in supplies to avert a future crunch.
Last year upstream oil capital spending dropped by nearly 30% to about $240 billion due to the pandemic.
“It is clear that underinvestment remains one of the great challenges for the oil industry,” Barkindo wrote.
“Without the necessary investments, there is the potential for further volatility and a future energy shortfall.”
OPEC sees the demand for its oil rising in the next few years, but rising supply from the United States and other outside producers means OPEC output in 2026 will likely be 34.1 million bpd, below 2019’s level, it said.
The group shifted last year to acknowledging demand would peak one day, after predicting growth for years. This year’s 2045 demand forecast was trimmed to 108.2 million bpd in 2045, down 900,000 bpd from last year.
Still, OPEC is upbeat about its future prospects, seeing its market share rising in later decades as competition from non-OPEC producers will wane. OPEC expects U.S. tight oil output, another term for shale, to peak around 2030.
“Oil is still expected to retain its number one position in the energy mix,” Barkindo wrote.
Source: Reuters
Ghana’s poor handling of the impasse between the Italian oil and gas giant, ENI, and local upstream player, Springfield E&P, is likely to deter oil and gas investors from investing in oil exploration in the West African nation, Dr Babajide Agunbiade, Director for Houston-based National Oilwell Varco, the largest oilfield equipment manufacturing company globally, has stated.
According to him, the Government of Ghana has built a reputation of strongarming against multinationals regardless of what has been agreed in the PSA.
Eni, recently, sued the Government of Ghana at the International Tribunal in London over the directive, asking them and Springfield E &P to unitise the Sankofa offshore field operated by Eni and Afina block operated by Springfield E&P.
According to the directive, Ghana’s Ministry of Energy’s seismic data had indicated Eni’s Sankofa offshore field, which entered production in 2017, and Springfield’s Afina Discovery had identical reservoir and fluid properties.
Eni, however, disagreed with the Government of Ghana’s position, resulting in the legal action against Ghana.
In a statement filed by three renowned lawyers namely Craig Tevendale, Andrew Cannon and Charlie Morgan from Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Eni is seeking five reliefs from the Tribunal.
Eni wants the Tribunal to declare that the purported 9th April Directive, 14th October Directive, 6th November Directive and any other steps taken to implement those directives represent a breach of contract under the Petroleum Agreement.
It also wants the Tribunal to declare that the respondents take no further action to implement the purported unitisation of the Sankofa Field and Afina Discovery on the terms of the purported 14th October Directive, the Draft UUOA sought to be imposed by purported November Directive or otherwise.
Again, it wants an order that the respondent pays damages in an amount to be quantified for the losses suffered by the claimant arising out of the respondent’s breaches of the petroleum agreement, Ghanaian law and International law on a joint and several basis.
Additionally, the claimant is seeking an order that the respondent pays all of the costs and expenses of the arbitration including the fees and expenses of the claimant counsel and any witnesses and/or experts in the Arbitration, the fees and expenses of the Tribunal and the fees of the SCC on a joint and several basis and /or an order such further or other relief as the Tribunal may in its discretion consider appropriate.
Commenting on the issue, Dr Agunbiade, noted that a review of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016 (Act 919) and the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) (General) Regulations, 2018 (L.I 2359), the laws that regulate unitisation in Ghana, shows that dynamic or hydrocarbon communication is not a requirement for unitisation.
Dr Agunbiade expressed the belief that the current impasse could delay anticipated further appraisal of other ENI discoveries in Ghana including Akoma, etc.
“This brawl can greatly affect the relationship between GNPC and ENI. Both are currently partners on the Sankofa field so GNPC needs to juggle between their position as a national oil company and a partner for the Sankofa field. This is very critical for continuity of the OCTP project and also other joint projects the parties wish to jointly venture on,” he added.
According to him, “There has also been some rumours that the deteriorating state-owned Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), which was built by ENI in the 60s, could be revamped by ENI as part of their corporate social responsibility.
“This melee can affect such an initiative and deter the Italians for moving forward with the investment,” he pointed out.
“It will be a win-win for both presidents to help resolve this issue amicably so that other trade relationships between the countries involved are not affected,” he observed.
The Government of Ghana has planned to fix Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cooking systems in over 1,000 public institutions especially in high schools, colleges, prisons and clinics.
The Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, who disclosed this, said the government will also facilitate the provision of LPG access to about 20,000 commercial caterers, including service providers under the Ghana School Feeding Programme.
Speaking at a virtual dialogue on Clean Cooking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Mr Mercer said these efforts are under the aegis of the LPG for Development programme.
“Implementing the LPG4D will lead to 10-14 million more people using LPG; about 12,000 to 19,000 lives saved; avert cumulative deforestation of 127 million to 221 million trees, reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 9.2 million metric tonnes and reduce Black Carbon equivalent emissions by 16.63 million metric tonnes together with the economic value of $47.74 million,” he said
He continued: “The overall economic benefit of the LPG for Development programme would be immense and the government would have achieved its goal of 50% access to LPG by the year 2030, and by so doing take a giant step in the transition to clean energy in Ghana.”
The Deputy Minister indicated Ghana’s acceptance of the call to action on clean cooking for all and said clean cooking will be a priority in the country’s national planning.
“We seek the support of member states in achieving these ambitious declarations,” he added.
The Sudanese government has reached an agreement with protesters to lift blockades off Red Sea ports, including an export hub for South Sudan oil.
Reuters reports that local tribes have been protesting against bad economic conditions in eastern Sudan and have blocked roads and ports, including one that ships crude oil from South Sudan to international markets.
The agreement between the government and the protesters staved off an imminent disaster: the petroleum ministry warned that the storage capacity of Sudan’s oil export terminal would fill up within ten days. If that had happened, South Sudan oilfields would have had to stop producing.
Landlocked South Sudan is home to most of the oil reserves of the old united Sudan, and while most of these reserves have yet to be tapped, the country is producing well above 100,000 bpd, hitting a high of 185,000 bpd earlier this year, right before its first-ever licensing round.
Currently, South Sudan has five producing blocks, operated by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, and Malaysia’s Petronas.
“The oil licensing round aims to attract interest from a diverse group of foreign investors to a region that is already home to oil and gas majors from China and Malaysia,” said the country’s Ministry of Petroleum at the time.
South Sudan broke from Sudan in 2011, taking with it around 350,000 bpd in oil production. But then civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013, which further complicated oil production.
In 2018, the warring factions in South Sudan signed the so-called Khartoum Declaration of Agreement, in which the parties to the South Sudan conflict declared a permanent ceasefire, and the governments of Sudan and South Sudan explored ways to rehabilitate the oil sector in South Sudan.
According to the South Sudan Petroleum Ministry, as much as 90 percent of the country’s oil wealth remains unexplored.
Source :Oilprice.com
Nigerian newly appointed Minister for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has been urged to chart a new roadmap to address generation, distribution and transmission challenges in the West African nation’s power sector.
Engr. Moshood Kola Balogun, who is the Chairman of Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company (MEMMCOL), advised during an interactive session with the media as carried by The Guardian newspaper.
He said there was the need for a roadmap that would clearly define the goals of the power sector, after seven years of privatisation without achieving the desired results.
He advised the Minister to consult with the stakeholders and come up with a comprehensive roadmap that would transform the sector.
“We need to separate it in such a way that any state or local government can go into power generation and distribution to people within its area. If the power being generated is not enough, they can even buy from the national grid.
“So, power generation and distribution should be removed from the Exclusive List and moved to the Concurrent List. That is why we are advocating for franchising so that Nigerians will enjoy more supply.”
Mr Balogun identified the decentralisation of the national grid as one of the ways to reposition the power sector.
He posed: “Why do we continue to have a single grid that binds all of us together?
“The entire process should be done in a way that investors can get back their funds while their customers get fair bills in line with global best practices,” he explained.
Mr Balogun noted that more investments were needed in the sector to upgrade feeders, transformers and substations across the country.
He also called for effective regulation of the sector, stressing that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) needs to be strengthened to carry out its statutory responsibilities.
The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority (BPA), the second-largest state power generation company in the Republic of Ghana, Samuel Kofi Dzamesi has expressed the belief that the clean energy projects being executed by the Authority will help to curtail the effects of greenhouse gas and climate change on the country.
“We are of the strong view that our generation from clean sources will go a long way to fight Climate Change.
“We all know that the use of fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping the sun’s heat and rising temperatures,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization’s Urban Health Initiative, “Emissions from transport represent a major problem for cities around the world, particularly in developing countries that are witnessing rapid urbanisation.”
The report also identifies the increased use of vehicles as the fastest-growing contributor to climate emissions and energy use with a global transport sector accounting for 14 per cent of the greenhouse gas budget.
Ghana aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent by 2030.
Consequently, the country is taking actions such as improvement in the energy efficiency of industrial facilities, replacement of light crude oil with natural gas in electricity generation plants and the reforestation and afforestation of 10,000 hectares of degraded lands annually.
Speaking at the maiden ‘E-Mobility Conference And Exhibition’ in Accra, on Thursday, September 23, 2021, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, in a speech read for him, said BPA is currently constructing a 250 Megawatt peak solar plant in the Bui Power enclave to hybridize the 404 Megawatt hydropower plant.
For the first phase of the project, a 50 Megawatt peak solar park (the largest so far in Ghana) had been completed earlier this year and connected to the national grid.
Additionally, one Megawatt Floating solar park, the first of its kind in the West African sub-region, had also been installed on the Bui reservoir and yet to be expanded to five Megawatts peak.
Also, the first-ever mini-hydro power plant has been constructed on the Tsatsadu Waterfall at Alavanyo-Abehenease in the Volta Region.
Mr Dzamesi said the deployment of these renewable energies to meet the growing energy demand for future generations is an excellent approach to help mitigate climate change.
“Our flagship initiative is the hybridization of the employing of a hydro-solar electricity generation at the Bui Generating Station which will ensure a 24-hour generation cycle. The generated electricity is evacuated into the National Interconnected Transmission System ensuring that all Ghanaians are benefitting nationwide,” he explained.
“Even though some modest effort to deploy renewable energy technologies have been made, we believe the bulk of the ideas to increase the share of renewable energy in the country are hidden in our youth,” he said.
The 1MW Floating Solar on Bui Reservoir
In line with that, Bui Power Authority, a firm believer in the future leaders, partnered with the Energy Commission in this year’s Senior High School (SHS) Renewable Energy Challenge which aimed at helping uncover the renewable energy talent hidden in some of the senior high students.
A significant stride has also been made by contributing to another clean source of power generation, which is Ghana’s nuclear power programme, by assisting to form and house the Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), which is a project organisation set up to manage Ghana’s first Nuclear Power Project, Mr Dzamesi disclosed.
He indicated that all these strides have been made by the Bui Power Authority by the President’s vision to ensure that the implementation of the ‘Drive Electric Initiative’ is smooth.
He explained that the Bui Power Authority is not only generating for domestic use but also available to generate electricity directly to organisations that may find themselves in the e-energy space to charge their electric vehicles.
Mr Dzamesi, therefore, invited the private sector to commit to energy, adding that the Bui Power Authority is ready for such partnerships in the next phase of the Climate Change fight.
He expressed confidence that the Energy Commission’s collaboration with the Ministry of Energy in promoting electric vehicles and also drive the productive utilisation of excess electricity in the grid system is a step in the right direction.
A Ghanaian journalist, Larry-Allans Dogbey, has filed a suit at the Industrial and Labour Division of a High Court in Accra, capital of Ghana, to challenge the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr Kofi Koduah Sarpong.
In the suit which names the GNPC, the Attorney General and Dr Sarpong as the first, second and third defendants respectively, Mr Dogbey argues that the laws of the country had been breached in the latter’s appointment as GNPC CEO.
He avers that Dr Sarpong had attained the compulsory retirement age of 60 at the time of his appointment. He is 63 now.
The plaintiff further argues that Dr Sarpong’s appointment as caretaker CEO of GNPC by President Akufo-Addo on January 19, 2017, was in contravention of Article 80 of the Constitution of Ghana and Section 10 (6) of the GNPC Act 1983 (PNDCL 64) because it was done by the President through the then Minister Designate for Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, who had not yet taken office as Minister.
According to Mr Dogbey’s suit, the appointment of 3rd Defendant as CEO was right from the outset a nullity and the Attorney General shirked his duty, hence the appointment of Dr Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC at a time “that he was 63 years old and now 67 years old.”
Plaintiff will aver that by all intends and purposes, the appointment of 3rd defendant as C.E.O. of 1st defendant’s Corporation at age 63 and his continuous stay in office at age 67 offends (P.N.D.C.L 64), especially section 27 of the aforementioned Act, Article 199(1) of 1992 constitution and the Labour Law (Act 651),” the writ of summons stated.
It is Mr Dogbey’s case that Dr Sarpong would continue to stay in office if the court did not compel the appointing authorities to terminate his appointment.
He is, therefore, seeking an order declaring the appointment of Dr Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer on January 24, 2017, and his continuous stay in office as illegal and of no effect.
He also wants an order nullifying the appointment of Dr Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC.
Additionally, he wants perpetual injunctions restraining the GNPC and the Attorney General from renewing Dr Sarpong’s contract of employment for another five-year term and an injunction restraining Dr Sarpong from holding himself as the CEO of GNPC.
Source: https:// energynewsafrica.com
New IMF research estimates global fossil fuel subsidies at about $6 trillion, with about 70% from “under-charging” for the environmental costs associated with the fuels, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told a UN energy summit on Friday.
The IMF previously had estimated such costs at about $5.2 trillion in 2017.
“The good news is that global carbon emissions would fall by one-third — in line with keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — if fossil fuel prices increase to fully reflect environmental and supply costs by 2025,” Georgieva said in prepared remarks to an energy summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Source:Reuters
Mr Dzamesi, therefore, invited the private sector to commit to energy, adding that the Bui Power Authority is ready for such partnerships in the next phase of the Climate Change fight.
He expressed confidence that the Energy Commission’s collaboration with the Ministry of Energy in promoting electric vehicles and also drive the productive utilisation of excess electricity in the grid system is a step in the right direction. 
Source: https:// energynewsafrica.com 