Ghana’s parliament has passed into law a bill proposing the establishment of Petroleum Hub Development Corporation.
Majority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu moved a motion for the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation Bill, 2020 to be passed into law.
The motion was seconded by the MP for Tamale South, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, and was read for the third time.
The Bill has subsequently been passed.
With the passage of the law and the implementation committee of the Petroleum Hub Project already in place, government has now been given the green light to set up the Petroleum Hub Dev’t Corporation to see to the actualization of the project.
The project, which is a private sector driven, is expected to attract an investments of about $50billion by the end of 2030.
It is one of the government’s strategic anchor initiatives that would serve as a new pillar of growth in the Ghanaian economy.
It would accelerate the growth of Ghana’s petroleum downstream sub-sector and make it a major player in the economy and, consequently, ensure development of sustainable value, wealth creation and the progress of the industry.
The petroleum hub, which will occupy a land space of about 20,000 acres, would have four refineries each with a capacity of 150,000bpd, two oil jetties, storage tanks for crude and two petrochemical plants.
It is expected to transform the economy through export tax of about $1.56 billion by 2030, increase GDP by about 70 percent and create jobs in excess of 780,000.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority (BPA), Ghana’s second largest power generation company, Fred Oware, has established an Innovation Centre for Bui Power Authority DA Junior High School in the Bono East Region in the Republic of Ghana to promote education.
The Centre, christened ‘Fred Oware Innovation Center’ has a Science Laboratory, Library as well as ICT and Robotics Laboratory.
It was built from Mr. Fred Oware’s personal resources and donated as a gift to the community as part of his commitment to unearth the potential of the youth in the Bui enclave.
The Centre will offer assistance to participants, especially the youth within the Bui enclave, to experience hands on learning in creative development and technology.
It will also afford the pupils at BPA Basic School an opportunity to undertake their ICT and Science related practicals in a more serene and advanced environment.
Students who will be enrolled into the Centre will undergo 6 months intensive hands on and classroom lectures to graduate from the Centre.
Delivering a short address at the commissioning of the Centre, Mr. Fred Oware, who was the first CEO of BPA until May 2009 in the former President Kufuor Administration, said when he was reappointed by President Akufo-Addo in 2017 he thought of doing something from his personal resources for the community.
After settling on what to do, Mr. Oware said from 2018, he started taking portion of his salary every month and set it aside for project, and I’m glad that today, lives are going to be touched through this project”.
He also thanked the staff of BPA who saw the value of the project and supported as well as the Bui Township for their cooperation, which helped to ensure speedy execution of the project.
Mr Oware admonished that succeeding BPA administration should continue to support the Centre through their Corporate Social Responsibility.
The Chief of Bui Nana Kwadwo Owuo (II), was full gratitude to Mr. Fred Oware for his generosity.
He said the Bui enclave has benefited immensely from Bui Power Authority under the leadership of Mr. Fred Oware.
He mentioned the distribution of free dustbin for every household, institution of scholarship scheme for brilliant but needy students and livelihood empowerment programme to equip the youth in skills training as examples of such benefits.
According to the chief, these and many more things have helped in transforming the lives of the people of Bui.
Meanwhile, BPA has commissioned resettlement secretariat at Bui and Jama in the Savannah Region.
The secretariat, which will be manned by personnel of BPA, will serve as a first point of call by the two communities anytime they have grievances that needs to be addressed by the Authority.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
“COVID has shown the world that you cannot just take the planet for free but that you have to take care of it as well.”
This is according to Pratik Gauri, the president of the 5th Element Group, a global impact management consultancy, who was part of a masterclass on “5IR, Energy, and Humanity” by Africa Energy Forum on the first day of the Digital Energy Festival for Africa.
“I see 5IR as working at the intersection of technology and purpose,” said Gauri.
“There have been two worlds in 4IR that have been pretty much operating in silos.
“The first world has been centred around profits and progress (mostly private sector). The second world has been centred around purpose and inclusivity (philanthropy or not-for-profit).
“I believe that magic can be produced if we can work at the intersection of both these worlds and this is what I call the 5th Industrial Revolution.”
Bending the focus
According to Gauri, the 4th Industrial Revolution has “definitely given us lots and lots of benefits, but if we can bend the focus of all frontier technologies that have been produced by the 4th Industrial Revolution towards humanity, that is what the 5th Industrial Revolution is all about.”
During his presentation, he explained man’s transition from the 1st Industrial Revolution to today.
“As soon as a new form of energy is created we transcend from one industrial revolution to the next. The 1st Industrial Revolution was focused on steam energy, then we transcended to electricity, oil and gas, which formed the 2IR. The 3rd Industrial Revolution focused on personal computers, digital and nuclear energy.
“Then we moved to the 4th Industrial Revolution which is happening right now. This is more about artificial intelligence, 3D printing, blockchain and all sorts of frontier technologies.
“And now there is a new form of energy which has been created which is all about humanity, which I call the human capital. And that is why we need to transcend from 4IR to 5IR and work at the intersection of profits and purpose.
“The reason we need to transcend to 5IR is all the four IRs have definitely given us a lot of technology and invention but it has caused a lot of harm as well.”
He mentioned as examples of this harm the lack of gender equality, “more than a billion people still don’t have access to electricity”, lack of access to water and education and excess CO2 emissions.
“For all these reasons we need to bend the focus of technology towards humanity to create the 5th Industrial Revolution.”
According to Gauri, 5IR will also assist in achieving several of the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals.
Long range wireless transmission
EnergyNet MD Simon Gosling of Africa Energy Forum, joint organiser of the Digital Energy Festival, talked about the role and impact of electricity in economic development and growth and said that he saw the move from 4IR to 5IR more as an evolution than a revolution, “using the benefits of the 4IR.”
“In the Forum this year we’re going to have some amazing new technologies. We have a case study on long range wireless transmission. Imagine that. Imagine the impact that long range wireless transmission is going to have on the continent. Electrification for the entire continent can be achieved in ten years if this technology is adopted.
“This is a project that is currently being developed in New Zealand.”
The discussion was led by Tony Tiyou, the founder and CEO of Renewables in Africa (RIA).
Source: Clarion Events Africa
International energy companies and local services companies spend a lot of time serving people, solving problems, and saving lives with the energy and service they provide. The African Energy Chamber’s members create jobs, expand economic opportunity for many local communities across Africa and support a prosperous future for all Africans.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, they never stopped working for our continent, and continue to inspire us by getting up every day and working harder because they believe in the power of free market as a force for good in our communities, and in our fight against poverty. At the African Energy Chamber, we get up every day to help them do it. We must fight for the ability of our energy industry to hire, invest, grow, and succeed in Africa.
As 2020 comes to an end, Africans are living in a remarkable moment of uncertainty due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Millions have lost their jobs, and hopes of an economic recovery remains non-existent for a majority of African families. As if that is not enough, bureaucrats at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) have decided to push through job-killing and investment-killing regulations that are already increasing unemployment, and will ultimately kill any hopes of seeing future investment in Central Africa.
The aspirations of governments and local companies across the CEMAC region to build a vibrant and jobs-creating energy sector have indeed been dramatically affected by the foreign exchange regulations imposed by the BEAC. Such regulations are putting extremely deterring barriers of entry for investors in Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, CAR, Equatorial Guinea and Chad, and a bitter halt to any kind of local content development for companies and entrepreneurs in these countries.
While the end goal of the BEAC to fight corruption is noble and must be supported, in essence its regulations prevent the free flow of capital and the repatriation of profits, and deny local companies the ability to compete on equal terms with their foreign counterparts.
Because of the region’s reliance on imports of equipment and material for oil & gas operations, the ability of local companies to establish strong business relationships with foreign partners is central to their competitiveness and ability to secure contracts.
However, CEMAC’s forex rules mean its local services companies are now unable to quickly and efficiently pay their foreign suppliers. Concretely, it would take a local services company from CEMAC several months to honour its contractual engagements with an operator, compared to only a few days or weeks for any other competitor not constrained by the same forex regulations.
As a result, companies in Central Africa are condemned to inexorably lose the contracts they have worked so hard to secure from foreign operators and contractors. In a region where oil & gas represents 80% of revenues, the consequences for economic growth and jobs creation could be catastrophic. To make things even worse, BEAC’s Instruction No. 002/GR/2020 of September 2020 on currency transfers outside of the CEMAC region has set up additional taxes of 0.75% on all transfers made outside of CEMAC starting January 1st 2021, on top of existing fees and taxes.
On behalf of the fight against corruption, the African Energy Chamber can only observe a gradual killing of investment in Central Africa, made through the punishment of local entrepreneurs. A big difference needs to urgently be made between fighting corruption and punishing hard working entrepreneurs, and it needs to be done before it is too late. The BEAC cannot love and support jobs while it hates or punishes those who create jobs.
Combined, the CEMAC members produce about 700,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). They also produce increasing quantities of natural gas, and the region houses up to 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG export capacity, shared between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. But as it tries to recover from the Covid-19 crisis and the historic crash in oil prices, we can only expect operators to be forced to contract international companies at the detriment of local ones. In Equatorial Guinea, where the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has pushed for increasing local content compliance, all such efforts are now jeopardized by the BEAC’s monetary policies. Similarly, the latest local content regulations within the new Hydrocarbons Code of Congo (2016) and Gabon (2019) and the new Petroleum Code of Cameroon (2019) are now all made pointless unless the region’s monetary authority takes a drastic policy turn.
The African Energy Chamber, its partners and members urgently call on the BEAC to act in the CEMAC Zone’s own interest, in the interest of its workers and its companies. The need to have a monetary policy that takes into account the concerns and voice of the region’s biggest revenue-generating industry is dire.
At a time when Africa gets ready to roll out the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), CEMAC and its business communities risk being further left behind.
If CEMAC energy markets are to recover from the historic crises of 2020 and improve the standard of living of their population through economic growth and jobs creation, the investment climate and business environment must be supported by market-driven policies and the right financial regulations.
Excessive regulation has become a threat to individual freedom and prosperity, and must be curbed as local companies stand to suffer the most. In an era where capital investment in the energy sector is drying out, especially for African oil and gas projects, CEMAC’s heavy-handed approach is not helpful and is counter-productive.
A policy turn is required to properly fight energy poverty, and a relaxation of foreign exchange regulations must be accompanied with lower taxation on local companies, better fiscal terms for exploration companies, particularly corporate taxes, and the promotion of greater prosperity, individual freedom and investment.
Source: African Energy Chamber
Oilfield services major Baker Hughes has booked $170 million loss in the third quarter of 2020, against $57 million profit same time last year.
The bottom line took a hit due to revenue drop, asset impairments, restructuring and separation related charges.
This was also the company’s third straight loss. Revenue for the quarter was approximately $5 billion, down 14 per cent from Q3 2019.
This was due to lower volume across the Oilfield Services and Digital Solutions segments. Sequentially, revenue was up some 7 per cent.
Operating loss for the third quarter of 2020 was $49 million. Operating loss decreased $3 million sequentially and increased $346 million year-over-year. Total segment operating income was $349 million for Q3 2020, down 34 per cent year-over-year.
Adjusted operating income for the third quarter was up 124 per cent sequentially. However, adjusted operating income was down 45 per cent year-over-year driven by lower margins in the Oilfield Services, and Digital Solutions segments, partially offset by volume in Turbo Machinery & Process Solutions, and margin expansion in Oilfield Equipment.
Baker Hughes recognised adjustments totaling $283 million before tax, mainly related to asset impairments, restructuring and separation related charges.
Depreciation and amortization for the third quarter of 2020 was $315 million.
Corporate costs were $115 million in the third quarter of 2020, down 2% sequentially and up 5% year-over-year.
Orders for the quarter were $5.1 billion, up 4 per cent sequentially and down 34 per cent year-over-year.
Year-over-year, the decline in orders was a result of lower order intake across all segments. Year-over-year equipment orders were down 40 per cent and service orders were down 28 per cent.
Lorenzo Simonelli, BH chairman and CEO, said: “Despite the uncertain macro environment, we are executing on the framework we laid out earlier this year. We are on track to hit our goals of right-sizing the business, generating free cash flow, and achieving $700 million in annualized cost savings by year end.
“As we move forward, we are intensely focused on improving the margin and return profile of Baker Hughes despite the near-term macro volatility, while at the same time executing on our long-term strategy to evolve our portfolio along with the energy landscape. Baker Hughes remains committed to leading the energy transition and becoming a key enabler to decarbonizing oil and gas and other industries.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Managing Director of Ghana’s Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), Edwin A. Provencal says his outfit is on course in its quest to revamping the company’s pipeline infrastructure which had been offline for several years.
According to him, rehabilitation works on the Buipe-Bolga pipeline had been completed and brought online while works on Akosombo pipelines had progressed steadily.
BOST has three pipeline systems.
The first is an 18-inch multi-product pipeline used to transfer refined products (gasoline and gasoil) from ocean vessels into the Accra Plains Depot located in the South-Eastern part of Ghana.
The two other pipelines, being the 6-inch 93km Tema-Akosombo Pipeline (TAPP) System and the 8-inch 268km Buipe and Bolgatanga Pipeline (B2P3) System, are used for primary transportation to move products to BOST inland depots.
Speaking in an interview with Accra- based Asaase Radio and monitored by energynewsafrica.com, Edwin Provencal said he was hopeful that, by November this year, the pipeline would be on stream.
He noted that 60 percent of the company’s marine assets, which were in deplorable state, had also been revived.
He asserted that when the current management took office, BOST’s debt portfolio was over US$624 million.
As of now, he explained that they have been able to pay about 97 percent of the amount, while the remaining three percent had been paid through ESLA Bond.
“Can you imagine what this nation could have used $624 million for,” he rhetorised.
According to him, the company’s financial health status was so bad that he and his team had to be strategic in dealing with most of the wrongs.
He said BOST owed most banks as well as the Ghana Revenue Authority since 2014, stressing that, that action made banks to treat the company as a plague.
Sadly, Provencal said the company failed to audit its accounts since 2015 and this put pressure on his management to ensure it was done to make it financially, operationally and managerially feasible.
He said as of now, audit report of the 2015, 2016, and 2018 is almost done, while that of 2019 is almost completed.
This, he opined, now puts BOST in a better position to do more businesses with all financial institutions and investors because of its prospects now.
Operationally, he noted that the company was not at full capacity, since most of their assets were not functional at all or were working partially.
Out of the 51storage tanks it has,15 were offline.
The BOST MD further itemised many other assets of the company left to wallow lazily at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians in Bolga since 2016 and many others across the nation.
On the brighter side of the company, he mentioned that soon, they would be receiving products from Takoradi, which would dramatically improve the import cover from the current figure of two to about four weeks.
“Can you believe that since 2008, we bought some pipelines and they’ve been stuck in the US? By December, it will have arrived in Ghana. We have some debts on it and we have paid them,” he explained.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The United States and Poland closed a nuclear power deal potentially worth $18 billion as the Central European country seeks to reduce its reliance on coal and Russian natural gas.
While the deal is not yet final, there is a pretty good chance that Warsaw will pick the U.S. over its main competitors on the international nuclear energy scene, namely China and Russia.
“We are hopeful that the ultimate decisions that are made by Poland over a period of time will result in them choosing U.S. technology,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told reporters as quoted by Reuters.
Poland wants to build six nuclear reactors to supplement its gas imports. Currently, it imports a lot of gas from Russia, but given the less than friendly bilateral relations, it wants to cut these off, and soon, by 2022, Reuters notes. Instead, it would import pipeline gas by Norway and liquefied natural gas from, among others, the United States.
Yet Poland also relies heavily on coal-fired power plants, and this goes counter to the EU’s ambitions for a net-zero economy in 2050. The only way to reduce or even eliminate its coal use is to replace that cheap energy with another comparable generational capacity.
The agreement closed this week stipulates that over the next 18 months, the parties will develop a program for the construction of the reactors and how they will be financed. Per plans, the first reactors should come online in 2033. The whole program could end up costing Warsaw some $40 billion, of which at least $18 billion would go towards acquiring U.S. nuclear technology, according to a U.S. government official.
Poland’s government to build between 6 and 9 GW of nuclear capacity by 2040, but it will also invest in renewable energy, planning between 8 and 11 GW in offshore wind power capacity.
Source: oilprice.com
Labour & Gov’t have adopted these Resolutions of the Adhoc Technical Committee chaired by the Honorable Minister of State, Labour
One of the key germane issues that affect Electric Power Consumers directly has to do with the resolution to deploy a batch of 1million Meters of the 6millino Meters President Buhari announced on the eve of the implementation of the contentious Service Reflective Tariff by the Electricity Distribution Companies in September 2020.
Quoting the Adhoc Committee report, “Acceleration of the National Mass Metering Program(NMMP): For the Distribution of the first one million meters, the Ministry of Power is to liaise with CBN, NERC and NEMSA to start work by 12th October, 2020 to accelerate the rollout of Meters with a target of December 2020. The Meeting agreed that it will work towards bridging the Metering Gap. The Federal Government committed to provide 6million meters; NERC is expected to compel the Discos to metering needs of the Customers”
Next point is: “Local Procurement for Meters for NMMP: Organized Labour to work with Government to improve and ramp up local production capacity”
As noble as these intentions might appear, it clearly also spells doom for close observers and analysts of the power sector.
For one, this is not the first time the Federal Government would promise heaven and earth to ensure Meters are deployed for Electricity Consumers.
Prof. Chinedu Nebo, a former minister of power, at a town hall meeting in January 2015 announced an approved funding for one million prepaid meters to be distributed to consumers through the 11 Distribution companies (Discos) to curtail the ravaging effects of estimated billing.
“The president (Goodluck Jonathan) is going to launch it very shortly and has provided the funding to give over one million meters to Nigerians to reduce the gap and then allow the Discos to face a time when they will make sure that all Nigerians are eventually metered,” Nebo had said.( https://dailytrust.com/wither-fgs-1m-electricity-meters-project)
Apart from that pronouncement, nothing was ever heard of this initiative again, which also incidentally coincided with a time when increase in tariff was also on the front burner.
We have once again come full cycle to the point where the Federal Government, in trying to placate Nigerians and encourage Consumers that they meant well, has chosen the pain point-Metering, to promise Nigerians of another one million meters.
The Adhoc Committee, while at best is advisory, has also set an open ended December 2020 as target date, whether December 1st,, or December 31st 2020, it is not stated.
Taking December 31st 2020 as target has only given the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry exactly 10weeks for ONE MILLION Meters to be deployed.
Other questions that has been left open ended includes the source of these Meters, names of Companies, whether local or foreign, that will be engaged, IF these Meters are readily available in Nigeria or will be imported, the source of finance for the acquisition (the VAT or World Bank Loan) and installation of the Meters, or even the Framework for which this NMMP would be deployed to Nigerian homes.
It is interesting that since President Buhari made the announcement in late August 2020, nothing concrete has been set up until the October 11th Recommendation by the adhoc committee on tariff review.
Far and beyond the issue of tariff, it has been stated severally that there are more important issues to be tackled before tariff can make any meaning to the power sector.
For Nigeria, and the Power Sector, to make progress,
i. Every Nigerians MUST HAVE equal access to quality electricity
ii. Every Nigerian must have means of measuring their consumption
iii. Every Consumer would then prove responsible to pay for what they consume. With Meters, Nigerians would be able to determine how much electricity they want to consume, especially when they do not have an option of utility service providers
iv. It is when the above issues is tackled that Consumer apathy can be resolved.
To reiterate, all private investors will continue to take advantage of all possible loopholes in the regulation and administration. This is where the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission has failed in stamping their authority, and their power.
With the Regulators having several opportunities to address the agitation of Consumers, and failing at this, the intervention of the Federal Government should be highly appreciated, but it should be done in such a way not to totally emasculate the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Adetayo Adegbemle is a public opinion commentator/analyst, researcher, and the convener of PowerUpNigeria, an Electric Power Consumer Right Advocacy Group (Twitter:@PowerUpNg, Email: [email protected])
Ghana’s petroleum downstream regulator, National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has rejected assertions by members of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union that the Authority has not been helpful in addressing their grievances.
According to the NPA, it has been responsive as far as addressing the complainant’s grievances are concerned contrary to their claims.
At a press conference on Monday addressed by George Nyaunu, National Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers, he accused the NPA and its CEO, Hassan Tampuli, of treating them unfairly and demanded his dismissal.
He blamed the NPA for failing to address harassment of drivers at check points by Western and Central Regional police officers, closing down of 86 gas filling outlets which have legal licences to operate, non-compliance of transit losses and refusal of the depot operators to abide by the 20 degrees Celsius loading temperatures, non-compliance of 2017 Memorandum of Understanding signed by stakeholders on drivers and mates condition of service, as well as the NPA’s inability to ensure that drivers get their portion of the benefit of Covid-19 fund to essential or frontline workers.
However, a statement issued by the NPA and copied to energynewsafrica.com dismissed the five claims by the drivers.
The authority provided evidence of steps it has taken to address their grievances.
The NPA indicated that though it does not want to engage its stakeholders in the downstream industry in a banter of words, it believes the appropriate media should be used by the drivers to seek redress.
The NPA, however, invited the union for a meeting to deliberate on the concerns raised.
Below are NPA’s Response To The Drivers Claims:
1. Request to approve 86 Gas Filling Stations
It would be recalled that following the Atomic Junction gas explosion on 7th October, 2017, Cabinet issued a directive on 12th October 2017, banning the issuance of construction permits for new petroleum products retail stations with immediate effect. However, in January 2018 the NPA was directed by the Ministry of Energy after consultations with Cabinet to use its legal mandate to resume the processing of applications for Oil Marketing Companies that met the required conditions including the siting guidelines for white products (petrol, diesel and kerosene) retail stations.
It is worthy to note that this directive excluded processing of applications for LPG filling plants. Subsequently, the NPA in a meeting with the Ministry of Energy in June 2018, was directed to process applications of OMCs/LPGMCs that had lawfully constructed their refilling plants prior to Cabinet’s directive issued on 12th October, 2017. To date, fifty-two (52) applications from the LPG Marketing Companies have since been processed to test run or operate their facilities. The ban on the grant of construction permits for new LPG refilling plants is however still in force.
The LPG Marketers Association in a letter dated 25th June, 2020 appealed to the NPA to grant them approval to complete the construction and operate their LPG refilling plants which were in various stages of development. Subsequently, a meeting was held on 24th July, 2020, between the NPA and stakeholders including the Union. A review of the documentation provided on 86 sites submitted indicated that only 11 of them had been granted construction permits prior to the directive in 2017.
A total number of 6 out of the 11 had applied for authorization to operate their completed facilities but were yet to meet the NPA’s requirements. Additionally, 17 out of the 86 sites had been granted “No Objection” permits (prior to 2017) to enable the applicants obtain the statutory permits to apply for construction permits. An inspection of 55 out of the 86 sites so 3 far revealed that 34 sites had been developed and 21 sites undeveloped. Of the 34 developed sites, 23 did not have the NPA’s construction permit hence were constructed unlawfully. It is worth noting that 4 subsequent meetings have taken place with the Union. The last meeting scheduled to take place on the 14th of October, 2020 was called off due to the absence of the Gas Tanker Drivers Association.
2. Alleged Police harassments at check points
As part of our efforts to improve the distribution of petroleum products and data management, the NPA introduced the Enterprise Relational Database Management System (ERDMS), which generates fuel delivery forms that all drivers are required to be in possession of during the haulage of petroleum products from depots to final delivery points. It is the single most authentic form that confirms a product has been genuinely loaded from an authorized depot to a retail outlet. The Police as part of their duties to ensure law and order are at liberty to request for these forms from drivers. Any driver who is in possession of the form cannot be harassed by any police officer.
It is therefore surprising for the Union to accuse the NPA and for that matter Mr. Samuel Asare – Bediako of instructing the police to harass tanker drivers in transit. The Security and Intelligence Unit of the NPA upon receipt of intel on this alleged harassment engaged the concerned Regional Police Commanders on this matter.
The Gas Tanker Drivers have also been provided with telephone contacts to call in case they face any form of harassment from the police.
3. Non-compliance to Oil Loss Control manual
The NPA 6th November, 2019 issued a revised version of the Petroleum Products Loading, Transportation, Unloading and Loss Control Manual otherwise known as Oil 4 Loss Control Manual, which was developed with the active involvement of multi stakeholders. The manual provides the right procedures for determining losses and, transit losses are determined by the OMCs or BOST per the procedure established in the manual.
The same document also requires depots to correct the volume of petroleum product loaded at a reference temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. This required the use of specialized flow meters to achieve this. The manual also makes provision to conduct manual calculations using the appropriate conversion charts to arrive at the corrected volume for depots like BOST and TOR who do not have these specialized flowmeters. The blanket claim by the Tanker Drivers that these requirements are not being complied with by the depots and OMCs is not wholly factual. About 90% of the depots in the country are equipped with these specialized flow meters.
4. Tanker Drivers Remunerations
Following strike actions by the Tanker Drivers in 2017 and 2018 with respect to their remunerations, the NPA met with the Tanker Drivers, Tanker Owners and other key stakeholders to discuss measures aimed at addressing this concern. This resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) initially on 4th September, 2017 between the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union (GNPTDU),Tanker Owners Union (TOU) and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Another MOU was signed on 25th September, 2018 between the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) of TUC, TOU, the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC), BOST and witnessed by the (NPA). As a follow to the meeting held on 24th September, 2018 a third MOU was signed by the GTPCWU, GNPTDU, TOU and witnessed by the NPA and AOMCs. The MOU among other things stipulated that, the GTPCWU would lead the GNPTDU in their discussions on remuneration and welfare issues with the 5 TOU.
The GNPTDU has not been cooperative with the mother Union, GTPCWU on this matter and has stalled the discussions. As a result of the standoff, the Authority wrote to the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations to intervene. The issue is currently before the Chief Labor Officer for a resolution.
5. COVID – 19 Fund
The NPA has no jurisdiction as to who in the Petroleum industry receives COVID19 funding. We believe that this is a matter the Union should take up with their employers which in this respect are the Tanker Owners.
Whilst it is not our intention to engage stakeholders in the downstream industry in a banter of words, we believe the appropriate media should be used to seek redress for whatever concerns they may have. Accordingly, the NPA wishes to extend an invitation to the Union and GTPCWU for a meeting to deliberate on the concerns raised by the Union.
Indian government has banned natural gas and coal-bed methane (CBM) producers from buying their own produce in the newly notified gas marketing freedom guidelines.
The government on October 15 notified the Natural Gas Marketing Reforms that give producers the freedom to discover the market price of gas through a standard e-bidding process.
The notification, which follows the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approving gas reforms, also gives them the liberty to market or sell the gas produced to anyone including affiliates.
However, the producer or any member of its gas field consortium cannot bid and buy the fuel, the notified guidelines said.
“Sale to affiliates will be allowed if affiliates participate in the open competitive process,” it said. “However, the contractor or its constituents shall not be eligible to participate in the bidding process.”
“Seller and buyer will not be the same entity,” it added.
This, the notification said, not just applies to conventional natural gas but also to CBM.
In 2017, Reliance Industries had bid and bought all the gas it was producing from its Sohagpur East and Sohagpur West CBM blocks in Madhya Pradesh. The company used the gas at its petrochemical plants in Patalganga and Nagothane in Maharashtra, and Vadodara and Jamnagar in Gujarat.
Reliance had outbid gas utility GAIL India Ltd for gas from Sohagpur till March 2021. State-owned GAIL had criticized the move saying Reliance had a 14 per cent tax advantage in the bid as stock transfer within the company is not subject to VAT.
The Oil Ministry had subsequently sought an explanation from Reliance which reasoned the sale to the CBM contract providing marketing freedom and the gas being sold through “an open and transparent bidding process through a reputed independent third party in compliance with provisions of the CBM contract and policy.”
To put the ambiguity to rest, the October 15 notification said with the new change “the April 11, 2017 notification on Early Monetization of CBM, regarding the process of the sale, will stand amended.”
The new guideline provides for the contractor selling the natural gas through e-bidding.
“The contractor shall get the bids invited through an electronic bidding portal to discover market price by following a transparent and competitive bidding process notified by the government,” it said.
The bidding will be conducted through an independent agency from a panel maintained by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
DGH is currently in the process of empanelling such agencies.
“Marketing freedom is granted for natural gas produced from Field Development Plans
(FDPs) which were approved before February 28, 2019 pertaining to Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), where Contractor has pricing freedom but market freedom is restricted,” the notification said.
The market price of such gas shall be discovered through e-bidding, it said.
“This policy will not apply to those contracts/PSCs where the contractor is required to get the formula or basis of sale approved from the Government or the contractor is required to sell the gas as per the specific conditions of the contract,” it said.
This essentially meant the gas produced by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) from fields given to them on a nomination basis would continue to be governed by government-dictated price, which currently is USD 1.79 per million British thermal unit.
Also, fields like Ravva in the KG Basis which are governed by a formula in the contract would be out of this policy’s purview.
Petroleum Tanker Drivers in the Republic of Ghana have given a 48-hour ultimatum to President Nana Akufo-Addo to relieve the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli, of his post.
According to the National Union of the Tanker Drivers, the head of the downstream regulator has failed to address some grievances which continue to affect their operations.
Addressing a press conference in Tema on Monday, October 19, 2020, National Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union, George T. Nyaunu chronicled a number of grievances which the NPA has failed to address.
He mentioned the harassment of drivers at check points by Western and Central Regional police officers, closing down of 86 gas filling outlets which have legal licences to operate, non-compliance of transit losses and refusal of the depot operators to abide by the 20 degree Celsius loading temperatures, non-compliance of 2017 Memorandum of Understanding signed by stakeholders on drivers and mates condition of service, as well as the NPA’s inability to ensure that drivers get their portion of the benefit of Covid-19 fund to essential or front line workers.
Mr. Nyaunu accused Mr. Tampuli of treating drivers unfairly by not making sure that drivers get a fair playing field as stakeholders in the downstream sector.
“Mr. Tampuli has not been helpful. Maybe, the position is bigger than him. Police officers have been beating and slapping drivers. We have complained to NPA. Meetings have been held on the issue yet the situation is the same,” he told energynewsafrica.com.
According to Mr Nyaunu, if President Akufo-Addo fails to act by sacking the NPA CEO or get their issues resolved, they would have no other option than embark on nationwide strike action.
“We are hoping for a favourable response from the President and NPA following which we will shall advise ourselves on our next line of action,” he stated.
Energynewsafrica.com could not reach the CEO of NPA on the telephone, however, Head of Corporate Communications of NPA, Anny Osabutey indicated that the Authority was preparing an official response to the claims made by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The leader of Ghana’s largest opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama says the next NDC administration will establish a coal fired power plant at Ekumfi Otuam in the Central Region if he is elected as the next person on December 7, 2020, when Ghanaians go to the polls.
Ahead of that, both the incumbent President and the leader of the opposition party are traveling around the country to reach the electorate with their campaign messages.
Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Ekumfi Otuam on the second day of a four-day tour of the Central Region, Mr Mahama said the coal fired power plant which would have a generation capacity of 2,000 megawatt (MW), will augment the country’s hydro, thermal and solar sources of power generation significantly.
He said after a series of feasibility studies, Otuam, the hometown of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, has been identified as a potential site for the project.
“We identified a number of possible places where we can build this project. We started from the West down to the East, trying to get a possible location around the coast to put up the infrastructure.
“One of the potential sites is Otuam, the hometown of our late President Atta Mills,” Ghana News Agency quoted Mr Mahama as saying.
Coal-fired plants produce electricity by burning coal in a boiler to produce steam under great pressure. The energy produced from coal is cheaper, abundant and more affordable than that from other sources.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Namibia is planning to build five photovoltaic solar power plants (25MWp) in the municipality of Windhoek.
This is part of the effort of the Namibian government to boost electricity supply in the area.
The solar project, which will be carried out under public-private partnerships (PPPs), is expected to cost N$420 million, i.e. nearly US$25.5 million.
The plants will be built on the southern borders of Cimbebasia, along the B1 road to Rehoboth.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Chief Executive Officer of J.K Horgle Transport and Company Ltd, a petroleum haulage transportation company in the Republic of Ghana, has been nominated for ‘Petroleum CEO of The Year Award’ at the Ghana Energy Awards scheduled for October 30, 2020.
The awards, scheduled to be held at the plush Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, in Accra, capital of Ghana, will have other CEOs of petroleum institutions such as CEO of GOIL, Kwame Osei Prempeh, CEO of Petrosol Michael Bozumbil, CEO of Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) Senyo Hosi, CEO of Ghana Gas, Dr. Ben K.D Asante, and CEO of Rigworld Group, Kofi Amoa-Abban, battling for the same award.
It will be held under the theme: ‘Excelling In Crisis: The Energy Sector In A Covid-19 Era’.
Kwame Osei Prempeh, Managing Director and Group CEO of GOIL
Mr. J.K Horgle has been in the petroleum haulage transportation business for over 40 years.
Besides his company winning some awards, Mr. Horgle has personally won several industry awards both home and abroad.
In an interview with energynewsafrica.com recently, J.K Horgle said his company retained about 700 workers despite the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which affected business activities globally.
He indicated that his company decided to maintain all the staff for a good reason.
“On our side, we train our drivers and we spend huge sums of money in training them, especially female tanker drivers. We can’t give them all this training and ask them to go home. We will lose. People even try to poach our drivers because they are well trained,” he said.
Senyo Hosi, CEO of Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD)Dr. Ben K. D Asante, CEO Of Ghana National Gas Company, Republic of GhanaMichael Bozumbil, CEO of PetrosolSource:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Centre will offer assistance to participants, especially the youth within the Bui enclave, to experience hands on learning in creative development and technology.
It will also afford the pupils at BPA Basic School an opportunity to undertake their ICT and Science related practicals in a more serene and advanced environment.
Students who will be enrolled into the Centre will undergo 6 months intensive hands on and classroom lectures to graduate from the Centre.
Delivering a short address at the commissioning of the Centre, Mr. Fred Oware, who was the first CEO of BPA until May 2009 in the former President Kufuor Administration, said when he was reappointed by President Akufo-Addo in 2017 he thought of doing something from his personal resources for the community.
After settling on what to do, Mr. Oware said from 2018, he started taking portion of his salary every month and set it aside for project, and I’m glad that today, lives are going to be touched through this project”.
He also thanked the staff of BPA who saw the value of the project and supported as well as the Bui Township for their cooperation, which helped to ensure speedy execution of the project.
Mr Oware admonished that succeeding BPA administration should continue to support the Centre through their Corporate Social Responsibility.
The Chief of Bui Nana Kwadwo Owuo (II), was full gratitude to Mr. Fred Oware for his generosity.
He said the Bui enclave has benefited immensely from Bui Power Authority under the leadership of Mr. Fred Oware.
He mentioned the distribution of free dustbin for every household, institution of scholarship scheme for brilliant but needy students and livelihood empowerment programme to equip the youth in skills training as examples of such benefits.
According to the chief, these and many more things have helped in transforming the lives of the people of Bui.
Meanwhile, BPA has commissioned resettlement secretariat at Bui and Jama in the Savannah Region.
The secretariat, which will be manned by personnel of BPA, will serve as a first point of call by the two communities anytime they have grievances that needs to be addressed by the Authority.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
“Mr. Tampuli has not been helpful. Maybe, the position is bigger than him. Police officers have been beating and slapping drivers. We have complained to NPA. Meetings have been held on the issue yet the situation is the same,” he told energynewsafrica.com.
According to Mr Nyaunu, if President Akufo-Addo fails to act by sacking the NPA CEO or get their issues resolved, they would have no other option than embark on nationwide strike action.
“We are hoping for a favourable response from the President and NPA following which we will shall advise ourselves on our next line of action,” he stated.
Energynewsafrica.com could not reach the CEO of NPA on the telephone, however, Head of Corporate Communications of NPA, Anny Osabutey indicated that the Authority was preparing an official response to the claims made by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
