NNPC Retail Limited, the downstream subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in charge of retail sales and marketing of petroleum products, has announced its entry into the lubricant market with the unveiling of a broad range of high performance engine oils to provide better options to customers across the country.
The package has on offer Nitro (Diamond, Gold, Super, 2T) and Nitro Super 40, all designed for petrol-power engines, while the diesel propelled engines have the Rhino (Rhino HD40 & Rhino X) engine oils.
The event which took place at the Amphitheatre of the NNPC Towers in Abuja was presided over by Mallam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the Corporation, in the presence of highly elated crowd made up of management and staff of NNPC Retail Limited as well as dealers and representatives of the 380 NNPC Downstream subsidiary company’s outlets across Nigeria.
Unveiling the products, Mallam Kyari said the entry of NNPC into the lubricant market was to ensure that the corporation opened up new areas of revenue generation while ensuring stakeholders reaped bountifully from the participation of the corporation in the entire value chain of the Oil and Gas Industry.
The GMD said NNPC Retail Limited had a history of accuracy, saying when it sold a litre of product, the customers actually got a litre.
He stated that overtime, the company had built trust in customers, expressing the expectation that it would not only maintain the trust, but also carried it into the lubricant business to give Nigerians value for money.
He assured that the NNPC would continue to provide the needed support and encouragement to its Retail unit to keep up the required standards and fulfil its mandate and obligation to stakeholders.
Engr. Yemi Adetunji, Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, whose unit superintends the operations of NNPC Retail Limited, expressed confidence that the entry of the company into the engine oil market would provide refreshing options to customers. He informed that the new products have all the required ISO certification, noting that the company would take full advantage of its massive outreach across Nigeria to push the products to all corners of the country.
He said the coming of NNPC lubricants would bring prosperity to all stakeholders.
“Its prosperity for our partners, prosperity for NNPC Retail Limited, prosperity for NNPC and prosperity for all Nigerians who now have a product they can truly call their own,’’ he said.
In his remarks, Sir. Billy Okoye, Managing Director of NNPC Retail Limited, said though the products had been in the offing for such a long period, the wait was worthwhile because NNPC Retail Limited took advantage of the period to consolidate research on the lubricant.
He informed that come February next year, the lubricants would be available in all the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, declaring that dealers and stakeholders have been fully mobilized in this regard.
The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) is set to provide streets light on the Accra-Tema Motorway.
The Accra-Tema Motorway street lighting forms part of MiDA’s
plans to provide some 18,000 streets lights in Accra, capital of Ghana.
The exercise, which is expected to cover about 200km, will lead to installation of street lights at areas where there are no street lights and replacement of non-functioning existing street lights.
The 19-km Accra-Tema Motorway, which was built during the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President in 1965 to link the harbour city of Tema and Accra, has been without street lights for ages.However, in June 2002, there was a report by the Ghana News Agency that the government of the West African nation was to spend 1.95 million cedis to light the motorway.
The project was to commemorate the country’s Golden Jubilee in 2007.
The project had some challenges that delayed its completion.
The late President Atta Mills’ administration commenced the motorway street lights project but the project couldn’t be completed.
Unfortunately, criminals along the motorway stole most of the electrical cables while irresponsible and reckless drivers knocked down most of the poles.
Many users of the road have lamented over the poor visibility on the road especially in the night.
It was the hope of many users of the road that one day the government would be concerned about the sad situation and act.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Construction work on the 330kV Bulk Supply Point at Pokuase in the Greater Accra Region of the Republic of Ghana is progressing steadily, with contractors assuring that the project will be completed on schedule.
So far, the project is about 38% completed.
The BSP, which is the first project under the Ghana Power II, spearheaded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), through the Millennium Development Authority, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
The US$60 million project, when completed, will boost power supply in many places including Pokuase, Nsawam, Adenta, Kwabenya, Legon, Oyibi and the surrounding communities.
It is being executed by Elecnor of Spain, with earth moving works sub-contracted to Cymain while Mikadu and Oakley have also been sub-contracted for the construction of GRIDCo and ECG/PDS offices respectively.
When officials of Millennium Development Authority, ECG and GRIDCo took journalists to the project site on Thursday, contractors were seen busily working.
The office building for Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, had progressed and the contractor working on it would soon cast concrete for the first floor.
GRIDCo’s office building under construction
The foundation for the sitting of five transformers had also been done.
The inspection team from Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) included Ing. William Amuna, Technical Advisor at MiDA, Julius Kwame Kpekpena,
Chief Operating Officer at MiDA.
Briefing the media after inspecting the ongoing work, Project Manager for the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point (BSP), Patrick Oppong expressed satisfaction about the progress of work done by the contractors.
“So far, GRIDCo’s building has gotten far. They are about to cast concrete for the first floor,” he said.
Arrival of Equipment
Mr Oppong said they have already submitted designs and placed orders for the manufacturing of all the equipment including transformers to be used.
According to him, officials of MiDA, PDS, ECG and the contractors would visit Turkey, Germany, Italy, USA, India, as well as Switzerland where the order for the equipment has been placed to inspect them in the first quarter of next year to ensure that they are of standard before they are shipped to Ghana between February and May 2020.
Job Creation
The project has employed about 160 workers so far, with more people to be employed as the project progresses.
According to the Country Manager of Elecnor, Mr Mate Perez they hope to employ about 250 people.US$5million injection In Ghanaian Economy
Contractors working on the project have been paid US$10 million by MiDA.
Mr Perez said half of the amount has been retained in the Ghanaian economy through payment of salaries and procurement of local materials including cement.
He assured that the project would be executed according to specification to ensure value for money.
Member of Parliament for Trobu, Moses Anim, who is also the Deputy Majority Chief Whip in Ghana’s Parliament, commended MiDA and the contractors for the speed with which they are executing the project.
He added that he expects quality work to be executed and a proper maintenance culture ensured after the project is completed to benefit future generations.
“We are expecting a quality scope of work to be done and that after the project has been handed over, a maintenance culture will be there for this project to span its lifetime for all to benefit,” he said.Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The World Bank Group, through its Scaling Solar programme, and the government of Côte d’Ivoire have signed an agreement to help the West African country develop its supply of affordable, reliable clean energy.
Côte d’Ivoire has plans to reach at least 42% of its power from renewable sources by 2030.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, signed the agreement with the government of Côte d’Ivoire to help the country, one of West Africa’s largest economies, develop 60MW of grid-connected solar power through two public-private partnership (PPP) projects, which will power thousands of homes and businesses in the country.
Abdourahmane Cissé, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energy, said: “Developing and diversifying our energy supply is a top priority for Côte d’Ivoire as we grow our economy and increase the number of countries to which we export electricity. In accordance with our COP21 climate change commitments, Scaling Solar will help us tap our abundant solar resources and bring clean power to the people of Côte d’Ivoire, especially those in rural areas.”
Aliou Maiga, IFC Regional Director for West and Central Africa, added “Scaling Solar has set a new standard for developing solar power in Africa while consistently reducing its costs. The World Bank Group programme will help Côte d’Ivoire diversify its sources of power generation, opening up new markets for clean energy production and distribution, and bringing clean, affordable energy to the largest economy in the West Africa Economic and Monetary zone.”
Under the agreement with Côte d’Ivoire, Scaling Solar will support the development, tendering, and financing of two utility projects in the country, which has West Africa’s third-largest electrical system with an installed generation capacity of 2,200MW.
The planned utility-scale solar photovoltaic installations will complement other planned solar projects to help Côte d’Ivoire achieve its goal of generating 400MW of solar power by 2030, contributing to climate change mitigation.
Côte d’Ivoire joins Zambia, Senegal, Togo, Madagascar, and Uzbekistan as members of the Scaling Solar programme, which provides a package of transaction structuring advice, project documents, risk management products, finance, and insurance to support solar energy projects.
Scaling Solar is supported by USAID’s Power Africa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and the Infrastructure Development Collaboration Partnership Fund.
Ghana’s power transmission company, Ghana Grid Company, has assured Ghanaians of uninterrupted power supply despite threats by the company’s workers to embark on an industrial action in the next few days.
Board Chairman of GRIDCo, Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, who gave this assurance during the company’s 10th AGM in Accra, capital of Ghana, said the leadership has taken all the necessary step to ensure that the company’s mandate as the backbone of power delivery in the West Africa nation remains consistent.
GRIDCo’s Senior Staff Association recently held a press conference demanding payment of unpaid debts totaling over GHS1billion from key institutions including Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Volta Aluminum Company(Valco) and Northern Electricity Distribution Company(NEDCo)
The union further threatened a strike action beginning December 4, 2019, if government fails to heed their demands.
However, Ambassador Blay-Amihere assured that regular engagements with key stakeholders are ongoing to resolve the differences and ensure that Ghanaians enjoy consistent provision at all times.
“The Board and Management have spent the last three years restoring the needed stability to the operation of the company and I’m proud to say that we are on a revival to carry on our mandate without fail,” he added.
Chief Executive of GRIDCo, Jonathan Amoako-Baah, in his remarks at the AGM, was quick to rule out media reports that a brief power outage across the country some days ago was directly linked to the intended staff strike action.
“There’s no linkage at all. What happened some days ago was purely a technical challenge arising from power swings on our transmission line to Cote D’Ivoire.”
In a related development, the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), representing government, said pragmatic initiatives have been taken to support GRIDCo deliver on its mandate.
CEO of SIGA, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng indicated that ECG has taken steps to settle its debts to the energy transmitter.
“Government has also taken steps to commit some of the debts owed GRIDCo into equity to shore up the performance of the company. We will support GRIDCo to a point where the company can confidently begin paying dividends,” he added.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Norwegian multinational oil company, Equinor, as well as Shell and Total have begun drilling the 31/5-7 Eos wildcat well to investigate whether the reservoir in the deep Johansen Formation was suitable for storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) as part of the Northern Lights project.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Thursday that this would be the first exploration well drilled where the objective was not to find oil or gas.
The well is being drilled south of the Troll field in the North Sea using Seadrill’s West Hercules rig. The Johansen Formation is situated at a depth of around 2,700 meters in the relevant area.
According to the NPD, this will be the first well to be drilled in exploitation license 001, and the objective of the well is to prove sandstone and the storage potential for CO2 in the Cook and Johansen geological formations.
If the well indicates good reservoir properties, and a decision is subsequently made to use the formations for CO2 storage, the first CO2 injector will be drilled as a sidetrack from the wildcat well.
NPD assistant director exploration Wenche Tjelta Johansen said: “In Norway, we have lots of experience and good expertise when it comes to safe storage of CO2 under the seabed.”
Since 1996, CO2 has been removed from the Sleipner Vest gas and injected in the Utsira Formation. One million tonnes of CO2 is stored subsurface every year.
Since 2007, 700,000 tonnes of CO2 per year have also been stored at the Snøhvit field. It is separated from the gas in the processing facility on Melkøya before it is sent by pipeline down into a reservoir located around 140 kilometers from land.
It is worth noting that estimates show that, in theory, the reservoir volume on the Norwegian shelf could accommodate more than 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to 1,000 years of Norwegian CO2 emissions at the current level.
The Northern Lights drilling is part of the Norwegian full-scale project for capture, transport, and storage of CO2.
This project includes the capture of CO2 from two industrial firms in Eastern Norway, as well as transport of liquid CO2 to a terminal in Western Norway. From there, the liquid CO2 will be transported via pipeline and pumped into a reservoir at a depth of nearly 3,000 meters under the North Sea, where it will be permanently stored.
To remind, the authorities gave Equinor and its partners an exploitation license for storage of CO2 in January this year.
According to the plan, Northern Lights will submit a plan for development and operation in the spring.
If the development plan gets a green light, Northern Lights has made a commitment to store 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 for the authorities, every year for 25 years.
Also, Equinor received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill an exploration well for CO₂ verification in the North Sea using the West Hercules rig in late September.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The CEO of Springfield E&P, an independent Ghanaian upstream player has been selected among the top 25 ‘Movers and Shakers’ list to watch by the continent energy body, African Energy Chamber.
Kelvin Okyere’s Springfield E&P recently discovered significant oil at its Deepwater block in the western part of the West African nation.
The African Energy Chamber’s list profiles key individuals who stand to contribute significantly in shaping the continent’s energy economy.
The list, not confined to actors from the continent, features key industry deal makers such as Alinko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, which is nearing completion of its 650,000 bpd Lagos-based game-changing refinery; United States President Donald J. Trump, whose America-first oil politics is likely to affect global prices and the appetite of American majors to look outside; Ghana’s Kevin Okyere who sits on one of the continent’s most promising assets after his Company Springfield’s West Cape Three Points Block 2 discovery, and many more.
“With this list, we hope to put all key role players to task. We want to challenge them and pose the questions: What’s next? Are you going to deliver on your plans and promises? How will you and your organisation contribute to the development of Africa’s oil and gas sector?” NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber and author of Amazon best-selling book, ‘Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing Deals’ said in a statement copied to energynewsafrica.com after the launching in South Africa.
“This year alone, the continent has seen improved cooperation and investment, large scale discoveries, world-scale projects coming online that make Africa the world’s hottest oil and gas frontier. The next step is to find out how we can maintain this momentum and the people on this list can certainly provide answers. Africans should demand more from them,” he added.
The Top 25 ‘Movers and Shakers to Watch’ list forms part of the African Energy Chamber’s African Energy Outlook which has set out to provide a comprehensive overview of the oil and gas sector across sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on strategic, operational and investment trends in the industry.
“We watch developments in the industry closely and speak to a wide range of stakeholders. What we have noticed is that a new breed of African oil men and women are playing an even greater role in the development of the continent’s resources, including resources mobilised on the continent. This is a trend we applaud. However, cooperation with international partners who still possess the technology needed to successfully undertake projects is very welcome,” Mickael Vogel, Director of Strategy at the African Energy Chamber, said.
Below is the list of Top 25 ‘Movers & Shakers’
ALIKO DANGOTE CHAIRMAN, DANGOTE GROUP
KELVIN OKYERE, FOUNDER & CEO, SPRINGFIELD GROUP, GHANA
DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
MOHAMMAD SANUSI BARKINDO SECRETARY GENERAL, OPEC
DIAMANTINO PEDRO AZEVEDO MINISTER OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND PETROLEUM, ANGOLA
NOËL MBOUMBA MINISTER OF MINES, PETROLEUM, HYDROCARBONS AND GAS, GABON
KOLA KARIM CHAIRMAN, SHORELINE ENERGY
IRENE MULONI MINISTER OF ENERGY AND MINERAL DEVELOPMENT, UGANDA
MUSTAFA SANALLA CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL OIL CORPORATION, LIBYA
DR OMAR MITHÁ CHAIRMAN & CEO, ENH MOZAMBIQUE
PATRICK POUYANNÉ CHAIRMAN & CEO, TOTAL
MACKY SALL PRESIDENT OF SENEGAL
GABRIEL MBAGA OBIANG LIMA MINISTER OF MINES AND HYDROCARBONS, EQUATORIAL GUINEA
GUIDO BRUSCO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, ENI
CATHERINE NORMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR, FAR LTD
ANDREW G. INGLIS CEO, KOSMOS ENERGY
AIDAN HEAVEY FOUNDER, BORU ENERGY
BENEDICT OKEY ORAMAH PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN, AFREXIMBANK
KAMEL EDDINE CHIKHI CEO, SONATRACH, ALGERIA
PRINCE ARTHUR EZE CHAIRMAN, ATLAS ORANTO INTERNATIONAL/ORANTO PETROLEUM
TOPE SHONUBI MANAGING DIRECTOR, SAHARA ENERGY
MEDARD KALEMANI MINISTER OF ENERGY, TANZANIA
AUSTIN AVURU CEO, SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT CO, NIGERIA
CATHERINE UGU IFEJIKA CHAIRMAN/CEO, BRITANNIA-U GROUP
Russian petroleum giants, Lukoil and GEPetrol, have been awarded Equatorial Guinea’s concession rights for oil, gas and mining respectively in the country.
The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons announced on Tuesday and added that Noble Energy and Gepetrol were also given concession rights for Block EG-09.
The announcement took place during the Gas Exporting Countries Forum’s ‘5th Head of States Summit’ currently underway in Malabo, the Equatorial Guinea capital.
Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has announced the winners of the 2019 licensing round for its oil, gas and mining acreage.
Officially launched in April, the round received interest from 53 international and national companies, with 17 companies submitting official bids and seven companies awarded concessions for nine blocks.
According to a press release, Block EG-27 (formerly Block R) in the Niger Basin, was awarded to Russian energy multinational Lukoil and GEPetrol.
Block EG-23 in the Niger Basin, which hosts the Estaurolita gas discovery, was granted to WalterSmith, Hawtai Energy and GEPetrol respectively whilst EG-09 in the Duala Basin was awarded to Noble Energy and GEPetrol.
In the Rio Muni Basin, EG-18 was awarded to Africa Oil Corporation and GEPetrol; EG-03 to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol; EG-04 to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol; EG-19 to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol; Block P to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol; and Block EG-28 to GEPetrol.
In the oil rich nation’s first ever mining licensing round, 15 blocks were assigned for the exploration of gold, silver, bauxite, coltan and other precious minerals.
Blue Magnolia was awarded seven blocks for the extraction of copper, rare earth elements, platinum, gold, uranium, bauxite and plom.
The release explained that Oro Sac ACorp was awarded four blocks for the extraction of ore, silver, copper, zinc, plom and nickel, with Akoga Resources awarded two blocks for the extraction of platinum; and Manhattan Mining Investment Inc and Shefa Minerals SA been awarded one block respectively for ore extraction.
In his remarks, President Gabriel Obiang noted, “This demonstrates that Equatorial Guinea can attract significant interest of investors in the petroleum community, as well as the mining industry. Hopefully, next year, we will attract even more investments to our country.”
The release also hinted that the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has signed a cooperative agreement with Russian geological research company, Rosgeo, and Venezuelan state-owned oil company, PDVSA, for the study of prospective onshore mining area on the country’s mainland.
The Ministry aims to sign production sharing contracts as soon as possible to enter into the next phase of negotiation.
To work more collaboratively with potential investors, all of the blocks were offered on a drill-or-drop basis, with a reduction of signature bonuses to a minimum of US$1 million and elimination of all pre-qualification requirements, the press statement disclosed.
The drill-or-drop policy provides each company with an initial two-year period to explore, process seismic data, define well locations, bring in additional investment, if necessary, and begin drilling.
Only after this period, in which a company has the opportunity to evaluate and reduce its risk from the data obtained, will the company have to decide whether it wants to proceed with the exploration well or relinquish its license.
Equatorial Guinea’s next licensing round will take place in 2020 and will include a different set of criteria by which to select potential blocks and new acreage on which to bid.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea and Vitol, an oil and gas firm have signed a Strategic partnership and Cooperation Agreement as part of the development of Equatorial Guinea’s Gas Megahub in Punta Europa.
The agreement was signed during the 5th Gas Exporting Countries Forum Heads of State Summit taking place in Malabo (November 26-29).
The project seeks to establish a modern, flexible gas processing and export system that will service the needs of growing gas demands in the region and the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market.
This will allow Equatorial Guinea to optimize the value of its gas production across LNG, liquefied petroleum gas, condensate and other products, as well as providing other regional producers with access to modern infrastructure and economies of scale.
“It was very important to partner with companies that share the vision of the Gas Megahub like Vitol. We are now under the implementation phase and interested parties should be ready to invest or move aside,” Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, said in an official statement.
“Gas has a critical role to play as the energy mix evolves and Equatorial Guinea is well placed to become a key regional hub. We are delighted to be a part of this exciting initiative,” Russell Hardy, Group CEO of Vitol also commented.
Located north of Bioko Island and close to countries such as Cameroon and Nigeria, the Gas Megahub project facilitates a cross-border link with gas projects in those countries and opens the door for establishing new hubs to service the region.
The Gas Megahub reduces dependency on single upstream producers for industrial development and combined with new subsea pipelines linking the country’s Aseng, Alen and Alba fields, the project will allow gas to be re-directed to maximize efficiencies.
Utilizing the Punta Europa-Alba-Alen infrastructure, the Gas Megahub will be able to connect to new gas discoveries, drive monetization of stranded gas, increase fuel exports and boost revenues.
A foreman with the Cape Coast Regional Maintenance Unit of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), an electricity distribution and retail company in Ghana, West Africa, Clement Annan, is battling for his life at the Ridge Hospital in Accra after suffering severe burns in the line of duty last Friday.
Clement Annan was said to be working on a faulty extensionable oil switchgear at the Winneba old office substation when he got burnt.
The Managing Director of Electricity Company of Ghana Limited, Kwame Agyeman- Budu, together with some Management members of the Accra East and Central Region, paid a visit to the victim.
According to a story posted on the company’s official website, Agyeman-Budu expressed his sympathy and assured the victim of his total support towards his recovery.
He also advised him to be an advocate of safety.
The story indicated that Mr Annan, who could manage a few words, expressed his profound gratitude to the Managing Director and his team for their expression of love and responsibility.
Total SA’s giant Mozambique gas project will get a $400 million loan from the African Development Bank, adding to its list of backers as the East African nation works to establish a fuel-export industry.
The ADB joins a global syndicate of commercial banks, development finance institutions and export credit agencies to provide senior debt financing for the project, the lender said Tuesday.
Mozambique is counting on the $23 billion development to revive its economy after struggling to service its debts.
Financial close is expected in the first half of 2020, the ADB said in a statement. French major Total operates the liquefied natural gas project with a 26.5% interest, after snapping up Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s African assets earlier this year.
A final investment decision was announced in June, and production is expected by 2024, Total said in September.
The project includes the development of offshore gas fields in Mozambique’s Area 1 and a two-unit liquefaction plant with capacity of 12.9 million tons a year. The site will eventually have as many as eight production units, Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said last month.
Mozambique is set to become one of the largest exporters of LNG, with sales from Area 1 supplemented by an adjacent Exxon Mobil Corp. project in Area 4. The U.S. company plans to take a final investment decision on its 15.2-million-ton-a-year venture in 2020.
Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison has expressed confidence that the Affirmative Action Bill, which is before the country’s parliament, will soon be passed into law.
The Bill, when passed, will increase women’s representation and active participation in decision making at all levels to advance, change and create a stronger action in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Speaking at the opening of a two- day Women in Energy Conference organised by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Cynthia Morrison revealed that she and other officials of the Ministry met the country’s Speaker of Parliament and the leadership at a breakfast, where the Affirmative Bill was discussed.
The Minister, who described the meeting as fruitful, said the leadership assured them that they are in support of the Bill and would soon be passed into law.
“My ministry is working assiduously to get the Affirmative Action Bill passed,” she assured.
The conference, which is under the them: ‘Women in Energy: Positioning for the future’, brought together female associations in the country’s power utilities and heads of some power sector agencies.
The conference is to provide additional opportunities to members of all female employee associations, particularly those in the energy sector to network, exchange knowledge and harness experiences in best practices and, thereby, strategise towards worthwhile ideas for the advancement of gender equality and social inclusion in Ghana’s Power Utilities industry.
She noted that achieving gender equality in the energy sector remains a shared goal and a national priority.
“As we gather here today, it is paramount we propel and give birth to innovations and tactics that will strategically position us as women to meaningfully contribute to the provision of reliable renewable energy.
“Our discussion here should also focus on pure rural women who are at the detriment of climate change due to their reliance and use of unsustainable non renewable energy,” she urged.
She further urged the participants to take it upon themselves to mentor younger women and girls in order to add to the number of women of substance.
Chief Executive Officer of Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Martin Eson-Benjamin, in a speech, noted that an organisation can improve its performance and maximise the social impact of its investments if gender and social inclusion issues are mainstreamed in the organisation’s policies, systems and practices.
This, he said, is the reason MiDA, which is the implementing agency for the Ghana Power Compact, is organising the conference in a bid to show leadership in institutionalising gender inclusion in power utilities.
He noted that the Power Compact makes it imperative for MiDA to institutionalise gender responsiveness to support gender auditing, development of a gender policy at ECG and supporting activities for strengthening the institutional capacity of ECG to implement a Gender Policy and also enhance the capacity of female employees associations, through knowledge sharing, networking and the development of internship and mentoring to university students in science, technology, particularly women.
According to Mr Eson-Benjamin, “We have started with the Gender Auditing and the development of a Gender Policy in ECG. We hope other institutions in the power sector associated with the Ghana Power Compact and eventually the entire energy sector will follow ECG’s footsteps.
“We are also hopeful that institutions that do not have female employees’ associations will establish such associations to advocate for equal opportunities and an enabling work environment for both women and men and promote women’s leadership in order to improve overall performance and productivity, ” he said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has announced an extension to the current free charging incentive for electric vehicles (EVs) which is expected to expire by the end of this year, to 31 December 2021.
However, this extension only applies to non-commercial users, who have registered for the EV Green Charger Initiative.
This incentive is exclusive to DEWA public charging stations and does not include home charging stations.
Commercial registered users such as government, semi-government, and private organisations will be charged the tariff of 29 fils per kilowatt hour, effective from the 1st of January 2020.
The utility’s MD & CEO Mohammed Al Tayer, said: “We support the Smart Dubai initiative, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the happiest and smartest city in the world; the UAE Vision 2021 which aims to achieve a sustainable environment in terms of air quality, conservation of water resources, increased reliance on clean energy, and green development.
According to Al Tayer, the utility also supports the Dubai Plan 2021, to make Dubai a smart, sustainable and innovative city in managing its resources, improving its quality of life, and consolidating its position as a global model for a green economy.
“DEWA seeks to increase the number of hybrid and electric vehicles in Dubai, which supports the Dubai Green Mobility Strategy 2030 and the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy 2021 to reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector,” he added.
Dubai Green Mobility Initiative
Al Tayer pointed out that under the umbrella of the Supreme Council, DEWA is working on implementing the Dubai Green Mobility Initiative to promote the use of electric and hybrid vehicles.
The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy launched this initiative as per a directive in 2016 to motivate organisations, under its umbrella, to increase the number of hybrid and electric vehicles and to contribute to the sustainable development of the Emirate by reducing carbon emissions in ground transport, which is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter in Dubai.
Therefore, at least 10% of all newly-purchased cars will be electric or hybrid from 2016 to 2020. This supports the city’s Carbon Abatement Strategy to cut carbon emissions by 16% by 2021.
Al Tayer highlighted that ever since DEWA launched the EV Green Charger Initiative in 2015 and its associated free charging incentive, there has been a significant increase in the number of electric and hybrid vehicles in Dubai.
“Due to the positive response, we decided to extend the free charging incentive for the owners of non-commercial electric vehicles until the 31 of December 2021. The huge turnout from the community encourages us to launch further initiatives to secure a more sustainable future for generations to come,” he concluded.
Many parts of the Republic of Ghana are without electricity supply as a result of system collapse at the power transmission company, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo).
Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Ing. Jonathan Amoako-Baah told energynewsafrica.com that about 1,000 megawatts of power have, so far, been lost.
In a statement, GRIDCo announced that at 2:37pm today(Tuesday), there was a major system disturbance following power swings from the Cote d’Ivoire interconnection with Ghana, thereby, leading to outages in parts of the country.
“Power supply has been restored to most parts of the country and efforts are currently underway to restore the remaining affected areas,” the statement said.
GRIDCo apologised to all the affected communities for any inconvenience caused, adding that it remains committed to its mandate of delivering reliable power supply.
The development has prompted many social media users to question whether the West African nation has returned to the days of power outages which was christened as ‘dumsor’.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Electricity Company of Ghana, power distribution and retail company, attributed the current outage to a technical challenge upstream.
“Customers should please note that the situation is beyond ECG’s control, however, immediately the challenge is resolved, power supply will be restored to all affected areas,” the statement assured.
“The inconvenience is very much regretted,” the statement concluded.
05:00MT UPDATE, Tuesday November 26, 2019.
GPP
Inlet: 138.6barg @ 27.10°C
Outlet: [email protected]°C
Flowrate: 88.8MMscf/d
AIS
Inlet: [email protected]°C
Outlet: [email protected]°C
Flowrate: 81.53MMscf/d
ORF@04:00GMT
Outlet:[email protected]°C
Flowrate: 181.73MMscf/d
WAPCo
Outlet: [email protected]°C
Flowrate: 58.25MMscf/d
TRMS
Inlet: [email protected]°C
Outlet: [email protected]°C
Flowrate: 106.85MMscf/d
DVS
Inlet: [email protected]°C
Outlet: [email protected]°C
Flowrate:8.73MMscf/d
TRMS EXT
Inlet: [email protected]°C
Outlet: [email protected]°C
Flowrate:3.42MMscfd
POWER GENERATION
T-1
Unit [email protected]/d
Unit 2=Down
Steam=53MW
T-2
Unit 1= 115MW@ 26.58MMscfd
Unit 2=Down
Steam= 58MW
AMERI
Eight (8) units with total load of 200.3MW@ 42.94MMscf/d
KARPOWER
Sixteen(16) units with total load of [email protected]/d
Total Gas exiting TRMS 218.75MMscf/d.
05:00GMT WAGPCo Parameters
ITOKI
Inlet: 27.10barg
Outlet: 26.80barg
Flowrate: 77.80MMscf/d
LBCS
Inlet: –
Outlet: 46.0barg
Flowrate: –
TEMA
Inlet: 33.3barg
Outlet: 28.5barg
Flowrate: 90.69MMscf/d
However, in June 2002, there was a report by the Ghana News Agency that the government of the West African nation was to spend 1.95 million cedis to light the motorway.
The project was to commemorate the country’s Golden Jubilee in 2007.
The project had some challenges that delayed its completion.
The late President Atta Mills’ administration commenced the motorway street lights project but the project couldn’t be completed.
Unfortunately, criminals along the motorway stole most of the electrical cables while irresponsible and reckless drivers knocked down most of the poles.
Many users of the road have lamented over the poor visibility on the road especially in the night.
It was the hope of many users of the road that one day the government would be concerned about the sad situation and act.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com 
Mr Oppong said they have already submitted designs and placed orders for the manufacturing of all the equipment including transformers to be used.
According to him, officials of MiDA, PDS, ECG and the contractors would visit Turkey, Germany, Italy, USA, India, as well as Switzerland where the order for the equipment has been placed to inspect them in the first quarter of next year to ensure that they are of standard before they are shipped to Ghana between February and May 2020.
Job Creation
The project has employed about 160 workers so far, with more people to be employed as the project progresses.
According to the Country Manager of Elecnor, Mr Mate Perez they hope to employ about 250 people.
US$5million injection In Ghanaian Economy
Contractors working on the project have been paid US$10 million by MiDA.
Mr Perez said half of the amount has been retained in the Ghanaian economy through payment of salaries and procurement of local materials including cement.
He assured that the project would be executed according to specification to ensure value for money.
Member of Parliament for Trobu, Moses Anim, who is also the Deputy Majority Chief Whip in Ghana’s Parliament, commended MiDA and the contractors for the speed with which they are executing the project.
He added that he expects quality work to be executed and a proper maintenance culture ensured after the project is completed to benefit future generations.
“We are expecting a quality scope of work to be done and that after the project has been handed over, a maintenance culture will be there for this project to span its lifetime for all to benefit,” he said.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
