The Government of Ghana has retreated by reducing the margin of taxes imposed on petrol and diesel which pushed the price of fuel higher above GHS6 in the West African nation.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA), in a directive issued to the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, last week, to revise the prices of fuel following the passing of Energy Sector Levies Act that saw the introduction of Sanitation and Pollution tax of 10 pesewas on both diesel and petrol and 20 pesewas Energy Sector Recovery Levy, revealed that the BOST Margin had been revised from 6 pesewas per litre of diesel and petrol to 12 pesewas.
UPPF also saw an increment from 27 pesewas to 30 pesewas, while Fuel Marking Margin levy increased from 3 pesewas to 8 pesewas with Primary Distribution Margin going up from 8 pesewas to 11 pesewas.
This development was met with stiff opposition from section of Ghanaians and industry watchers because of the coronavirus pandemic which has resulted in loss of jobs and dislodged incomes of many Ghanaians.
Immediately, the country’s Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on Tuesday, invited officials of NPA, BOST, leadership of Association of Oil Marketing Companies and some civil society organisations in the energy sector to a meeting.
In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the NPA announced that “the 17 pesewas per litre increase in fuel margins it had previously announced has been reduced to 9 pesewas per litre effective tomorrow Wednesday 5th May, 2021.”
According to energynewsafrica.com’s sources, BOST Margin was reduced from 6 pesewas to 3 pesewas while UPPF was reduced from 30 pesewas to 29 pesewas.
Fuel Marking Margin levy reduced from 8 pesewas to 5 pesewas with Primary Distribution Margin reduced from 11 pesewas to 10 pesewas.
Per the decision by the government, a litre of both diesel and petrol is expected to be reduced from GHS 6.13 to GHS6.05 by tomorrow.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Venezuela has released from jail the six U.S. executives at Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-held oil firm PDVSA, and placed them on house arrest in what sources tell U.S. media was a goodwill gesture from Nicolas Maduro’s regime as the Biden Administration is reviewing its policy toward Venezuela.
The six U.S. executives at Citgo were initially detained by Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela in November 2017, and the ‘Citgo 6’ sat in jail two years after their detention.
Venezuela arrested the six executives as part of a corruption sweep at an event in Caracas in November 2017. Maduro said a week later that all six—five of whom are U.S citizens and one holding a permanent residency permit for the United States—would be tried as traitors.
Back then, U.S. authorities requested that its nationals be released, but Maduro refused, saying, “These are people born in Venezuela, they’re Venezuelan and they’re going to be judged for being corrupt, thieving traitors.”
In December 2019, Venezuela released the six Citgo executives under house arrest, only to have the intelligence police of Nicolas Maduro, SEBIN, round them up two months later, just after Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó met with then U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House.
As Maduro looks to forge better relations with the Biden Administration, the release of the so-called Citgo 6 from prison to house arrest is seen by the U.S. authorities as a goodwill gesture, a source with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
The U.S. Administration, however, does not see the release from jail as an imminent step toward Venezuela allowing the six executives to return to the United States, Bloomberg’s source said.
Officials from several federal agencies were scheduled to discuss last week the U.S. policy regarding Venezuela, including the oil sanctions on the South American oil producer slapped by the Trump Administration, two sources with knowledge of the U.S. Administration’s plans told The Associated Press.
Source:Oilprice.com
U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil booked a quarterly profit due to benefits of higher commodity prices and structural cost reductions.
ExxonMobil posted estimated earnings of $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2021 compared with a loss of $610 million in the same quarter last year.
The company stated that the positive results reflect the benefits of higher commodity prices and ExxonMobil’s focus on structural cost reductions while prioritizing investments in assets with a low cost of supply.
Results included unfavourable identified items of $31 million. First-quarter capital and exploration expenditures were $3.1 billion, $4 billion lower than the first quarter of 2020.
ExxonMobil also pointed out that cash flow from operating activities was $9.3 billion while debt reduction amounted to $4 billion.
During the quarter, the company advanced several initiatives to reduce emissions and launched its Low Carbon Solutions business to commercialize an extensive low-carbon technology portfolio one of which is a vision for a massive $100 billion carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Houston.
Oil-equivalent production was 3.8 million barrels per day, up 3 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2020.
Excluding entitlement effects, government mandates and divestments, oil-equivalent production was up 2 per cent.
Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, said: “Cash flow from operating activities during the quarter fully covered the dividend and capital investments, and we strengthened the balance sheet by reducing debt.
“We also made progress on our energy transition strategy by launching our new ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions business, which is initially working to develop innovative, large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) concepts, including the evaluation and advancement of more than 20 new opportunities, such as a multi-industry hub to reduce emissions from hard-to-decarbonize industries near the Houston Ship Channel.
“As the global leader in carbon capture, we are seeing growing public and private sector support for CCS as a critical enabling technology to reduce emissions and help meet society’s net-zero ambitions”.
During the quarter, ExxonMobil announced the elections of Michael Angelakis, Jeffrey Ubben, and Wan Zulkiflee to its board of directors. With the addition of the new members, the ExxonMobil board increased to 13 directors, 12 of whom are independent.
African OPEC member Angola has signed a $5-billion memorandum of understanding with its neighbor to the east, Zambia, to study the construction of oil products and gas pipelines between the two countries.
According to Angola’s Minister of Petroleum, Diamantino Azevedo, the feasibility studies could take two years.
After they are completed, the two governments will take the final decision regarding the construction of the pipelines, Angola’s Ministry of Petroleum said in a statement after the agreement was signed.
If the project moves to construction, it will create between 12,000 and 14,000 jobs in both countries, while pipelines maintenance and operation activities will create 4,000 permanent jobs in Angola and Zambia, the Angolan Ministry of Petroleum said.
The pipelines are expected to transport gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and gas from Angola to Zambia once completed.
“This milestone agreement will bring to an end a more than 10-year old complex negotiation process that shall lead to cheaper fuel for Zambia,” Zambia’s ambassador to Angola, Lawrence Chalungumana, said, as carried by Anadolu Agency.
Angola’s state oil firm Sonangol and Zambia state’s company IDC will be strategic equity partners in the pipeline project, Chalungumana said, quoted by The Zambian Observer.
According to the ambassador, the pipeline project is expected to cost around $5 billion.
Angola is currently raising its refining capacity by building three refineries with a total capacity of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) and boosting the refinery capacity of an operational refinery threefold, The Zambian Observer reports, noting that all the new refining capacity will turn OPEC member Angola into a producer of more refined oil products than it consumes.
The surplus fuel will be transported to Zambia and other neighboring countries in the region.
Zambia relies on copper for a large part of its export revenues, but it relies on imports for fuel supplies.
Petrol and diesel prices have gone up in the Republic of Ghana following a directive by the West African nation’s downstream petroleum regulator, National Petroleum Authority (NPA), to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
As at April 30, a litre of petrol and diesel was sold at GHS5.45 respectively.
The NPA, on Friday, directed OMCs to revise the prices of petroleum products due to the passing of the Amended Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA).
The review of the ESLA saw the introduction of Sanitation and Pollution levies of 10 pesewas each on a litre of petrol and diesel and 20 pesewas Energy Sector Recovery Levy on diesel and petrol.
The NPA’s directive also revealed that BOST Margin, Primary Distribution Margin, Fuel Marking Margin and Unified Petroleum Price Fund Margin have all been increased.
BOST Margin was revised from the current 6 pesewas per litre of diesel and petrol to 12 pesewas.
Unified Petroleum Price Fund also saw an increment from 27 pesewas to 30 pesewas, while Fuel Marking Margin levy increased from 3 pesewas to 8 pesewas with Primary Distribution Margin going up from 8 pesewas to 11 pesewas.
Following these increments, the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC), on Friday, sent a news letter to its members asking them to adjust prices to reflect the above changes.
Per the AOMC’s calculation, Premium Spirit (petrol) will sell at GHS6.36 maximum while AGO (diesel) will sell at GHS6.11 maximum.
A litre of LPG will also sell at GHS6.18
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Transport operators in the Republic of Ghana have served notice of increasing transport fares next week, following the hikes in petrol and diesel prices at the pump.
A litre of petrol and diesel currently sell at GHS6.36 and GHS6.19 respectively.
Speaking on an Accra-based Citi FM, Godfred Abulbire Adogma, who is the General Secretary of GPRTU, said the Union plans to come out with a statement after Wednesday.
“The price increase is obvious but the percentage that we will be increasing it by is what we are yet to discuss,” he said.
He said based on current factors, an increase in transport fares between 30 percent and 40 percent would have been ideal, but that may affect their business, hence, the final decision would be lower than that.
“Even if we are given a freehand to think within our own and come up with the new fares, we will not make any mistake to go beyond 15 percent or even 20 percent,” he said.
“Ours will come after Wednesday. We met [on Thursday] with the Transport Minister and we agreed that once there is this new rollout of new tariffs from 1st May, we just wait and get that percentage and add it up to our existing price build-up that we had calculated and now know by what margin we will increase fares.”
He said the GPRTU would ensure that the new fares “will not affect the general public so much.”
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Energy Think Thank, Institute for Energy Security, is calling on the Akufo-Addo-administration to withdraw the increment in Petroleum Price Margins being introduced by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) which is expected to take effect on Saturday, May 1, 2021.
The downstream petroleum regulator, NPA, in a directive to the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), asked them to revise the price of diesel and petrol effective today due to the passing of the Amended Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA) which introduced 10 pesewas on both diesel and petrol and 20 pesewas each on a litre of diesel and petrol for Energy Sector Recovery Levy.
In the Memo, NPA also revealed that BOST Margin has been revised from the current 6 pesewas per litre of diesel and petrol to 12 pesewas. Unified Petroleum Price Fund also saw an increment from 27 pesewas to 30 pesewas, while Fuel Marking Margin levy increased from 3 pesewas to 8 pesewas with Primary Distribution Margin going up from 8 pesewas to 11 pesewas.
UPPF margin on a litre of LPG, which is currently 25 pesewas, had also been increased to 28 pesewas.
But these increments have been met with stiff opposition by IES, and Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (Ghana).
In a statement, IES said it finds these new amendments in the various margins as nuisance and insensitive to the Ghanaian petroleum consumer, particularly as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is still felt by the majority of Ghanaians.
The energy think thank said the fuel consumer is already burdened with several taxes, in the face of job losses, salary cuts and collapse of businesses et cetera; following the pandemic.
According to IES, it is inappropriate for the government to lay more burdens on Ghanaians through the amendments in fuel margins.
“The IES finds no justification for the increases in these Margins. For instance, the BOST Margin and the PDM goes to BOST, yet BOST has not been able to even properly justify the GHp3 per litre increase given it last year. The company is still under performing, as it was the year before…not much has changed.
“This action by government, through the National Petroleum Authority can best be described miscalculated, insensitive, careless and inconsiderate, looking at the times the country is going through.
“IES is, therefore, calling on the government and NPA to immediately withdraw the increased levies on the UPPF Margin, PDM, FMM and the BOST Margin to alleviate the burden on the ordinary Ghanaian citizen. It must be stated that there is no justification for these increase, and of course, counter-productive,” the statement concluded
On their part, COPEC accused the NPA of taking a unilateral decision by adding in excess of 3.2 percent on current pump prices in addition to the parliamentary approved 5.5 percent new taxes from the 2021 budget.
“This will lead to fuel price increments of about 8.7 percent on current prices.
“We believe the NPA, by this singular action and previous acts, is completely out of touch with the economic realities of the people who buy fuels in the country as that the NPA itself is simply becoming another burden on Ghanaians and will need to be reigned in by the appropriate Authorities from these arbitrary increases at a time as this when the harsh effects of Covid-19 on businesses and individuals is still raging.
“While it is on record the country is losing billions of Cedis in revenue to the fuel smuggling phenomenon and for which reason we think comprehensive efforts by the state should be directed at blocking the cartel engaged in this act to deliver the needed revenues to the state, we object to any attempts to simply continue adding taxes and unnecessary margins on the fuel price build up which only adds to the increasing hardships on Ghanaians.
“We are by this calling on authorities to reign in the NPA to immediately withdraw these new needless add on as any attempts to force these unilateral increases by the NPA using the backdoor on Ghanaians will be steeply resisted,” COPEC said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s downstream petroleum regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has directed Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to increase the prices of petrol and diesel effective May 1, 2021.
The Government of Ghana introduced Sanitation and Pollution levies of 10 pesewas each on a litre of diesel and petrol and 20 pesewas for Energy Sector Recovery Levy, bringing the total to 30 pesewas in the 2021 Budget and Economic Statement.
The increment is expected to take effect from tomorrow, Saturday, May 1, 2021.
Interestingly, Ghanaians were only made aware of the above taxes. However, a directive issued by the NPA to Oil Marketing Companies has revealed that BOST Margin, Primary Distribution Margin, Fuel Marking Margin and Unified Petroleum Price Fund Margin have all been increased.
BOST Margin has been revised from the current 6 pesewas per litre of diesel and petrol to 12 pesewas, UPPF also saw an increment from 27 pesewas to 30 pesewas, while Fuel Marking Margin levy increased from 3 pesewas to 8 pesewas with Primary Distribution Margin going up from 8 pesewas to 11 pesewas.
UPPF margin on a litre of LPG, which is currently 25 pesewas, had also been increased to 28 pesewas.
Currently, GOIL, which is the leading OMC, sells a litre of diesel and petrol at GHS5.45.
Per the increment above, consumers are expected to pay almost GHS6 per litre of fuel tomorrow.
The NPA, in statement signed by Esther Anku, Chief Inspector on behalf the CEO, directed all OMCs and LPGMCs to take note of the review and apply them in the Price Build-Ups effective tomorrow 1st, May 2021.
Ghana’s second largest state power generation company, Bui Power Authority (BPA), has completed its synchronisation exercise for the successful transmission of 50 Megawatts solar power onto the West African nation’s national electricity grid.
This will eventually boost electricity supply in the West African nation, especially in the night.
The country’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, about three weeks, began transmitting power from BPA’s 50MW first-ever solar onto the national grid.
GRIDCo began with 22.25MW, but CEO of Bui Power Authority, Mr. Fred Oware confirmed to energynewsafrica.com that GRIDCo has successively transmitted all the 50MW onto the grid.
According to him, the exercise was completed last week.
BPA’s solar power farm control room
The 50MW solar power is the first phase of the 250MW solar power project being executed by BPA.
Mr Oware told energynewsafrica.com that the Authority would be adding another 50MW in the next three months.
CEO of Bui Power Authority, Hon. William Owuraku Aidoo, Yaw Osafo Marfo and other dignitaries at the control room during the commissioning of the solar plant last yearSource:www.energynewsafrica.com
Namibians will be paying 2.92 percent more for electricity effective July 1, 2021.
This follows an approval of 2.92 percent by the Electricity Control Board after considering request for tariff adjustment by the Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower).
After considering a tariff application increase for an effective bulk tariff, inclusive of generation and transmission, increase from
NamPower had proposed of 5.8 percent increase in tariff to be able to raise funds for their projects, but the Electricity Control Board, after careful analysis, approved 2.92 percent increment in electricity cost for the 2021/2022 financial year.
This would mean that consumers would now pay up to N$1.6982 ($0.11) per kilowatt-hour, which was increased from N$1.6500 per kilowatt-hour.
The new electricity tariff would be applicable to NamPower’s bulk customers, including distribution utilities, local authorities, regional councils and mines.
Regional electricity distributors would now have to apply to the ECB individually for a review of their distribution tariffs.
It is only when these individual applications are approved by ECB that they would be applicable to end consumers.
ECB CEO, Foibe Namene commented: “The Electricity Control Board is cognisant of the fact that the economy is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but is equally dependent on reliable and affordable electricity supply. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the regulator to ensure a sustainable electricity industry at affordable tariffs.”
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Zambia’s Electricity Company (ZESCO) Limited has recorded 14.2 percent increase in vandalism of its installation and theft in the first quarter of 2021.
The corporation recorded a total of 715 cases of vandalism and theft between January and March 2021 compared with 626 cases recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The total value of the vandalised property in the quarter under review was K4, 145,613.75 (equivalent of 185,985.69 dollars).
In a statement, ZESCO Limited said it is saddened by the development.
“Losing such huge amounts of money to vandalism is not only a setback to ZESCO operations but also amounts to economic sabotage as electricity is one of the key products that drives the economy,” the statement said.
The statement continued that ZESCO is concerned about the persistent loss of vital installation components and would like to warn perpetrators of the ugly vice that “we are working round the clock to ensure that the culprits are brought to book.”
Vandalism is a criminal offence under the laws of Zambia which can attract a maximum of 25 years’ imprisonment.
ZESCO, in collaboration with other stakeholders, and in the period under review, said: “We managed to arrest 103 vandals of which 20 have been convicted and sentenced and 38 cases are still active in the courts of law.
“This is due to increased number of foot and motorised patrols and enhanced intelligence gathering.
“We urge the public to partner with ZESCO by being vigilant and reporting any suspected vandals loitering around ZESCO installations by calling the ZESCO security line 0978783000 or reporting to Zambia Police Service,” the statement concluded.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor recorded a profit of $1.85 billion in the first quarter of the year due to price recovery, sustained cost improvements, and “strict capital discipline”.
Equinor on Thursday reported adjusted earnings of $5.47 billion in the quarter which is way above the $2.05 billion reported in the first quarter of 2020.
Adjusted earnings after tax were $2.66 billion in the first quarter of 2021, almost five times more than the $0.56 billion reported in the same quarter last year.
IFRS net operating income was $5.22 billion in the first quarter – another much stronger result than the $58 million in the same period of 2020.
IFRS net income in the first quarter was $1.85 billion, an improvement from the negative $0.71 billion net income in the first quarter of 2020. Net operating income was impacted by higher prices for gas and liquids, gains from transactions, and lower impairments of $0.43 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
Anders Opedal, president and CEO of Equinor, said: “With sustained improvements and capital discipline, we are able to capture value from recovering oil and gas prices and achieve our best quarterly results since 2014.
“We deliver a net cash flow above 5 billion dollars and reduce our adjusted net debt ratio to below 25 per cent.
“The forceful response and solid operational performance delivered by our organisation during the pandemic is providing for a strong position for safe operations, value creation and cash flow generation in 2021 and going forward”.
Equinor delivered total equity production of 2,168 mboe per day in the first quarter, down from 2,233 mboe per day in the same period in 2020.
Shut down of the Hammerfest LNG plant and maintenance at Peregrino were partially offset by higher flex gas volumes, increased gas volumes from the U.S. onshore, and increased production from Johan Sverdrup and Snorre Expansion.
At the end of the first quarter of 2021, Equinor has completed five exploration wells with four commercial discoveries while 11 wells were ongoing.
The four discoveries at the Norwegian continental shelf have added around 60 million boe net to Equinor near existing infrastructure.
Adjusted exploration expenses in the first quarter were $0.23 billion, compared to $0.30 billion in the same quarter of 2020.
Also, the board of directors has decided on a cash dividend of $0.15 per share for the first quarter of 2021, slightly higher than the reduced dividend of $0.09 per share in the first quarter of 2020.
Source:Offshoreenergytoday.com
Ghana’s Ministry of Energy has debunked claims by the Minority Parliamentarians that the government stopped the power transmission company’s (GRIDCo) plan to publish a nationwide load shedding timetable.
According to the Ministry, the current power situation in the country does not warrant nationwide loading shedding.
“For the record, there has been no nationwide load shedding in the country, neither has there been an attempt to embark on one because there is no need to,” a statement issued by the Ministry on Thursday explained.
The West African nation has been experiencing an intermittent power supply since the beginning of 2021.
The power transmission company, GRIDCo, has blamed the situation on a number of issues including ongoing upgrading of its transmission network in order to be able carry more loads.
At a press conference addressed by the former Deputy Minister for Power and Ranking Member of Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, John Abdulai Jinapor alleged that GRIDCo was stopped by the government from publishing a nationwide load shedding timetable.
However, a statement issued by the Ministry rejected this claim.
The Ministry blamed the situation on ongoing projects being undertaken to strengthen the power sub-sector.
“The only reason these outages are being carried is to allow for the contractors to tie in their works into the existing transmission lines. It is, therefore, false to claim, as the Minority in Parliament has, that political pressure has been brought to bear on the publishing of a load shedding timetable,” the Ministry said.
Below is the full statement from the Ministry of EnergyPress release 29042021
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the OPEC Fund for International Development, the African Development Bank (AfDB) the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Arab Bank have signed a US$ 114 million financing package with ACWA Power for the construction of the largest private solar plant in Egypt.
The development of the Kom Ombo solar plant will add 200 MW of energy capacity, increasing the share of renewable energy in Egypt’s energy mix and further promoting private-sector participation in the Egyptian power sector.
The package comprises loans of up to US$ 36 million from the EBRD, US$ 18 million from the OPEC Fund, US$ 17.8 million from the AfDB, US$ 23.8 million from the GCF and US$ 18 million from Arab Bank. This is in addition to equity bridge loans of up to US$ 14 million from EBRD and US$ 33.5 million from Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP).
The new Kom Ombo plant will be located less than 20 km from Africa’s biggest solar park, the 1.8 GW Benban complex. Once operational, the new utility-scale plant will serve 130,000 households.
ACWA Power, a Saudi Arabian developer, investor and operator of power generation and desalinated-water plants, submitted the lowest tariff in what was the first solar photovoltaic (PV) tender in Egypt. The provision of solar energy through a public tendering process aims to achieve a competitive tariff and promote the growth of solar energy as an affordable alternative to conventional energy sources.
Private-sector participation in the Kom Ombo project is the result of successful policy dialogue with the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), as well as a US$ 3.6 million technical assistance programme, co-funded by the EBRD and the GCF, to support the EETC in administering competitive renewable energy tenders. In addition, the project has also benefitted from broader energy-sector reforms supported by the AfDB in recent years to scale up the involvement of the private sector.
EBRD President Odile Renaud Basso said: “We are very happy to team up again with ACWA Power in Egypt, after our successful partnership in Benban, to promote renewable energy in Egypt. Increasing the production of clean energy is an important step to reducing carbon emissions and addressing climate change. This is in line with the EBRD’s strategy to become a majority green bank by 2025. This project also marks the EBRD’s first co-financing project with the AfDB and the OPEC Fund in Egypt and we look forward to future joint investment opportunities for our institutions across Africa.”
OPEC Fund Director-General Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “We are pleased to contribute to Egypt’s efforts and strategy to expand its generation capacity in the renewable energy space. We have been at the forefront of advocating for access to affordable clean energy for many years. Kom Ombo will be our third project with ACWA Power and it exemplifies great cooperation between government, development finance and private-sector actors.”
The African Development Bank’s Vice President in charge of Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth Kevin Kariuki said: “The Kom Ombo solar project is a truly remarkable transaction. It not only clearly demonstrates the indisputable competitiveness of solar PV vis-à-vis conventional sources of generation, but it also directly contributes towards the realization of Egypt’s ambitious renewable energy targets, in addition to being an excellent example of what stakeholders driven by a shared objective can achieve”.
Paddy Padmanathan, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACWA Power, said: “ACWA Power is privileged and proud to lead the realisation of the Kom Ombo PV project. The financing package signed today brings us closer to not only the people and the government of Egypt, but also to our finance partners, the EBRD, AfDB, the OPEC Fund, the GCF and Arab Bank and APICORP, reflecting our shared objective of supporting the energy transition to address the threat of climate change. Kom Ombo PV is the fourth project in ACWA Power’s Egyptian portfolio and the conclusion of this financing demonstrates the confidence in the Egyptian government’s ambitious renewable energy plans, being implemented through private-sector participation.”
Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, said: “The GCF is proud to support implementation of Egypt’s ambitious renewable energy financing framework. US$ 154.7 million in GCF resources, including US$ 23.8 million for the Kom Ombo plant, catalyses over US$ 850 million in co-financing and unleashes the first wave of private renewable energy projects in Egypt. The GCF looks forward to continuing to support the government of Egypt in delivering on its ambitious climate targets through innovative partnerships with the private sector.”
Nemeh Sabbagh, CEO of Arab Bank, said: “We are proud to capitalize on our long experience in this sector and partner again with EBRD to provide debt financing and related banking services to another renewable energy project in Egypt for our client ACWA Power. Green financing is one of our strategic focus areas and Egypt is a core market for Arab Bank Group, where we have been operating since 1944”.
The Kom Ombo plant will contribute to the Egyptian government’s target to generate 42 per cent of the country’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2035 while delivering one of the lowest generation tariffs on the continent.
This development was met with stiff opposition from section of Ghanaians and industry watchers because of the coronavirus pandemic which has resulted in loss of jobs and dislodged incomes of many Ghanaians.
Immediately, the country’s Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on Tuesday, invited officials of NPA, BOST, leadership of Association of Oil Marketing Companies and some civil society organisations in the energy sector to a meeting.
In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the NPA announced that “the 17 pesewas per litre increase in fuel margins it had previously announced has been reduced to 9 pesewas per litre effective tomorrow Wednesday 5th May, 2021.”
According to energynewsafrica.com’s sources, BOST Margin was reduced from 6 pesewas to 3 pesewas while UPPF was reduced from 30 pesewas to 29 pesewas.
Fuel Marking Margin levy reduced from 8 pesewas to 5 pesewas with Primary Distribution Margin reduced from 11 pesewas to 10 pesewas.
Per the decision by the government, a litre of both diesel and petrol is expected to be reduced from GHS 6.13 to GHS6.05 by tomorrow.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
