Dangote Refinery To End Imports Of Petroleum Products To Africa-Devakumar
Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries would soon heave a sigh of relief from the importation of petroleum products, with the imminent completion of the 650,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Dangote Refinery at Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos.
Group Executive Director in-charge of Strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Development for the Refinery Devakumar Edwin, expressed this view during the opening of the Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCON), which took place in Accra, capital of Ghana.
This year’s conference held under the theme: ‘Regional Collaboration: A Catalyst for Transformation,” organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy and the National Petroleum Authority, was attended by stakeholders in the petroleum sector in the West Africa region.
Mr. Edwin expressed the belief that the completion of Dangote Refinery and other modular refineries projects across West Africa, would lead to the integration of the downstream industries and stabilize the prices of petroleum products across the African sub-region.
He stressed the need for other investors in West Africa to emulate the investment drive of Aliko Dangote in the downstream petroleum sector and make the sub-region exporter of refined products.
He also urged investors in sub-Saharan Africa to take the bull by the horn by investing in the downstream sector.
According to him, “If Dangote can do it, any investor can do it. Dangote has not waited for government to regulate the downstream sector before starting the construction of the refinery.”
“We don’t need foreign investors to turn around our downstream sector. African investors should be able to emulate Dangote and revive the African downstream petroleum industry,” he added.
He assured that the refinery is designed to process multiple grades of domestic and foreign crude, which can be converted into high-quality gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuels that meet Euro V emissions specifications.
The facility, according to him, would be integrated with a petrochemical unit that will produce polypropylene and fertilisers.
Mr. Edwin said Nigeria would soon become the largest exporter of fertiliser in Africa as the Dangote Fertiliser Company is set to commence full production.
According to him, pre-commissioning activities have started while construction work is still on-going at the Dangote Refinery site.
Ghana International Petroleum Conference Ends (PHOTOS)
The Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhipCon) which begun on Wednesday July 10, at the plush Movenpick Hotel in Accra ended on Thursday, July 11, 2019.
Ghana’s Vice President Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia delivered a keynote address at the conference, which was organized by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), in partnership with the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors Companies (CBOD) and the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC’s).
The theme for the conference was “Regional Collaboration; A Catalyst for Transformation”.
Panelists were drawn from across the West African sub-region including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire and Togo.
They discussed issues of governmental and regulatory policy, and best practices for the advancement of the downstream petroleum industry.
Below are some of the exclusive photos captured by energynewsafrica.com.
Namibia To Boost Rural Electrification Through Mini-Grid Project
IBC SOLAR is supporting Bavarian Universities to create a pilot project for expanding the energy supply into rural areas of Namibia.
In a press statement, the energy firm explained that the aim of the project ‘PROCEED‘ is to achieve a sustainable improvement in the energy supply based on renewable energy.
The research will also be funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) with approximately 1.24 million Euros in the next three years.
IBC SOLAR is supporting the University of Bayreuth, the Technical University of Ingolstadt and the Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences as an industry partner for the project in order to secure and increase the energy supply in remote areas of Namibia.
The system house will be primarily responsible for the technical appraisal and long-term monitoring of existing systems during the project. This also includes developing system improvements for storage and control systems and delivering the corresponding components.
“Solar power is now cheaper than electricity from the grid and the PV market in Southern Africa has significant growth potential,” Albert Engelbrecht, Senior Vice President Solutions International at IBC SOLAR explained.
“We are very pleased to be helping the universities implement this project with our expertise and products. The project contains promising solutions which can also be used to improve the energy supply in other rural areas of Africa cost-effectively and efficiently,” Engelbrecht said.
Together with the system house, the researchers will use renewable energy and stand-alone grids referred to as “mini-grids” to implement the project. These decentralized power grids restricted to smaller areas are operated by local providers and are not embedded into a unified nationwide integrated grid. In cooperation with Namibian partners, decentralized models for the energy infrastructure will be developed in the future, which correspond to the local electricity demand, making use of current technical possibilities and are accepted by the rural population. These island grids ought to be economically viable and easy to maintain.
More than half of Namibia’s rural population have no access to electricity. Connecting households to the national power grid is neither technically nor economically practical in many parts of the country. The lack of access to electricity is one of the main drawbacks in the efforts to reduce poverty and achieve industrialization.
Source: Esi-Africa.com
Ghana: Consumption Of Petroleum Products Increased By 15% In 2018 – NPA
Consumption of petroleum products in Ghana increased by 15% in 2018, the country’s downstream petroleum regulator, National Petroleum Authority has revealed.
This was as a result of efforts towards curbing illicit fuel activities coupled with deliberate technology based schemes and policy initiatives aimed at propelling private sector growth.
Chief Executive Officer of the West African country’s National Petroleum Authority, Hassan Tampuli, who revealed this at the 3rd edition of the Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCon) 2019 said consumption grew by “15% from 3.4million Mt in 2017 to 3.9 million Mt in 2018”.
He added that petroleum sector had contributed over GHS86 billion to Ghana’s GDP representing an average of about 8% per annum in the period 2013 to 2018.
These successes, he explained, were achieved despite the many challenges the petroleum industry faces. Some of the challenges he enumerated included “smuggling via unapproved offshore routes, dumping of Gasoil declared for sale to foreign vessels at local filling stations, under-declaration and non-declaration of products lifted at depots; diversion of subsidized social products such as premix fuel, as well as fraudulent freight claims from some transporters and siphoning LPG from BRVS into surface tanks at illegal LPG tank”.
These “nefarious activities” he added, cost Ghana “about $200million per annum of tax revenue; compromising on product quality at filling stations due to laundering which leads to damage to vehicle engines; and distortion of the national consumption statistics (over 300,000Mt of actual annual consumption was unreported).
He also said that the “Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) also recorded about USD12million losses per annum”.
In addressing the stated challenges, Mr. Tampuli mentioned that the NPA had “rolled out a series of measures to tackle the problem heads on, in collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Navy and other relevant security agencies in the country”, and intensified “digital solutions such as Enterprise Relational Database Management Software, Petroleum Products Marking Scheme and Bulk Road Vehicle Tracking project”.
Mr. Tampuli urged “participants to use this GHIPCON platform to deliberate on the key issues” in the petroleum industry with a “focus on the strategies” needed “in order to achieve the vision of being ‘A Catalyst for Transformation’ together” in line with this year’s theme.
He also assured participants that “the key recommendations” from the conference “will be taken on board in efforts to ensure efficiency in the Ghana petroleum downstream industry”.
On his part, Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said the petroleum downstream sector had witnessed a significant expansion following government’s deregulation policy.
“This sector has witnessed significant investment and expansion of petroleum products storage and outlet facilities,” he said.
“The investment has been championed by the private sector which is mostly dominated by a growing number of indigenous Ghanaian companies.
“For instance, over the past eight years, the industry has grown from a total of eight (8) Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) to 35. The number of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) has grown from eight one (81) to one hundred and fifteen (115)”.
Dr. Bawumia also mentioned as at May 2019, there were 19 companies providing support services for the sector in areas such as tank calibration, underground storage tank (UST) and Above Storage Tank (AST) cleaning, Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), amongst others.
Petroleum Hub Project Should Be Assigned To A Dedicated Entity – BOST MD
The Managing Director of BOST, Mr. George Mensah Okley, has said there is a need for the petroleum hub project to be assigned to an entity that would be solely responsible for its operations, in order to ensure proper accountability and sustainability.
He was speaking as a panelist on the first day of this year’s edition of the Ghana Energy Summit, organized by the Business and Financial Times (B&FT) and Ministry of Energy in Accra. He was contributing to the topic ‘Ghana’s petroleum hub project – The dream, opportunities and how to get there’.
The gathering of industry players included Mr. George Mensah Okley, CEO-BOST; Mrs. Abigail Asonlange Harlley, CEO-AI Energy Group, Mr. Isaac Osei, Managing Director-TOR; and Mr. Kwame Jantuah, CEO-African Energy Consortium.
According him, the need for a hub is to allow the country to become the nerve-centre of the sub-region when it comes to petroleum. But this dream, he added, cannot be solely managed by the private sector due to lack of capacity to run a petroleum hub since it involves resources and hard work – hence, a Public Private Partnership is key.
“We need to leverage on our existing infrastructure, connect them together; then we look at demand so we can fully utilize the infrastructure we will put in place,” he said.
He further stated: “We need capital investment and that can happen when we are able to explore the diaspora bond by partnering with them for investment and exploit the local content”.
Adding to the submission, Madam Harlley added that government must consider tax breaks for the private sector to allow more private participation.
She added that the financial industry has a critical role to play. “Our financial sector should position itself to assist the private sector to serve as a source of funding,” she said.
There is a need for private-public partnerships, which according her will go a long way to actualize the dream of a petroleum hub in Ghana.
Mr. Osei also stated that we need to have a multi-modal approach to transporting products that are obtained from the petroleum industries. “If we do not have that, it becomes too expensive – not only for consumers, but also for the country,” he said.
According to him, we can transport these via roads, water and rail. He further stated that these factors must be considered before actualizing the project.
Mr. Jantuah added: “In order for that, we need to build capacity and engage with countries in the sub-region with similar thoughts of a petroleum hub,” he said.
The African Energy Consortium CEO further added that government is currently conducting a feasibility exercise, drafting a policy framework, establishing a corporation for the hub among others. This, according to him, are the various blueprints that are currently being done; and he therefore called for collaboration between government and the private sector.
The hub upon completion is estimated to create about 750,000 jobs.
The two-day summit seeks to address opportunities in the energy sector and the role of local participation. The summit ended yesterday.
Dominican Republic Offers 14 Oil Blocks In Maiden Licensing Bid Round
The Dominican Republic has launched its first ever oil and gas licensing round, offering 14 offshore and onshore blocks up for bidding to interested oil companies.
The blocks on offer are located in the Cibao, Enriquillo, Azua, and San Pedro basins of the Carribean island nation.
Energy intelligence group Wood Mackenzie is assisting the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines with the evaluation, planning, and execution of the licensing round.
Juan Agudelo, Director of Upstream Consulting at Wood Mackenzie, said the exploration performed in the country since the early 20th century indicated the presence of a working petroleum system.
He said: “Blocks will be awarded based on work commitments for the first exploration phase. The Dominican Republic is incentivizing the acquisition of geological and geophysical data, while providing flexibility to explorers on how to conduct activities during the contract exploration phase. Operators will have between eight to 10 years to explore and must drill one well.”
“This round aims to boost exploration of oil and gas in the Dominican Republic. The country currently doesn’t have any operators searching for new fields. If the rounds attracts explorers, it will bring investment and help to de-risk the oil and gas potential in the country,” Agudelo said.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, interested companies need to send documentation by October 13 for prequalification, after which the eligible oil firms will take part in the auction.
The ministry on Wednesday hosted a launching ceremony in Houston, and according to the ministry, the companies that attended the opening of the round were, among others, Anadarko, Apache, ExxonMobil, Noble Energy, CNOOC, Shell, Repsol, seismic players CGG, PGS, Westerngeco, and offshore driller Transocean
Ghana: Gov’t Releases GHS 200m To ECG To Settle Independent Power Producers
Information available to energynewsafrica.com indicates that Ghana’s Ministry of Finance has released an amount of GHc200 million to the Electricity Company of Ghana to settle part of its indebtedness to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
According to our sources, the GHc200 million was released on Wednesday and allocation was started immediately.
Our sources say Cenpower Generation Company has already received its part of the money with the rest yet to receive theirs.
It would be recalled that the Chamber of Independent Power Producers,Distributors and Bulk Customers(CIPDIB) issued a threat that its members would be compelled to shut down their plants if government failed to pay monies owed its members within seven days.
The companies – Sunon-Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited, BXC Solar Ghana, Cenit Energy Limited, Cenpower Generation Company Limited and Karpowership Ghana Company Limited – are members of the Chamber of Independent Power Producers and Bulk Consumers (CIPDIB).
In a statement issued and signed by the Chief Executive Officer of CIPDIB, Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, it urged the government, through the Ministry of Energy, to compel PDS to expressly pay all accumulated invoices to the IPPs within the next seven days.
The statement further urged the government not to only make PDS pay its debts to the IPPs, but also be made to pay interest on all overdue invoices, which the IPPs could have profitably utilized.
It also called on the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to compel PDS to adhere to best business practices and respect the terms of the PPAs and ensure that the nation derives the optimum benefit from the concession arrangement.
However, Power Distribution Services (Ghana) Limited rebutted the claims by the IPPs that the service owes them.
Head of Communications at PDS William Boateng, in an interview, stated that PDS only had an agreement with ECG and not IPPs and, thus, directed the latter to go to ECG if its monies had not been paid.
Aker Energy Issues Convertible Bonds To Africa Finance Corporation
Norwegian oil firm, Aker Energy, has entered into an agreement with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) to issue US$100 million of convertible subordinated bonds.
The bonds have a maturity of five years, with an option to extend with another three years.
As part of the agreement, AFC received equity warrants with the right to subscribe shares in Aker Energy in future equity offerings by the company of up to USD 50-100 million.
The bonds have a coupon of 5.5 per cent per year and will be converted to equity in the event of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Aker Energy, at an agreed discount to an IPO offering price of 1.85 per cent per year.
The proceeds from the bonds will be part of the financing for the development of the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) block offshore Ghana.
“We are very pleased to get AFC on board as investors in Aker Energy. We look forward to further strengthening our collaboration in the years to come, as we embark on development projects offshore Ghana,” Jan Arve Haugan, CEO of Aker Energy said in a statement posted on the company’s website.
On his part, Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO of AFC , commented that: “Partnerships with financially and technically strong sponsors, is a key component of our Natural Resources strategic focus. We are therefore delighted to be announcing this transaction with Aker Energy, which, through the Aker group, has an outstanding track record of executing complex offshore projects like the DWT/CTP block in Ghana.”
AFC is a multilateral finance development institution investing primarily in companies and infrastructure projects operating in Africa, with an equity capital base of USD 1 billion. The institution was formed in 2007 and has more than 20 African member countries, including Ghana
Ghana: Energy Security Policy In The Offing-Dr Amin Adam
Deputy Minister for Energy in-charge of Petroleum in the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, says the Ministry is working with the country’s National Security Secretariat to implement an Energy Security Policy, aimed at protecting critical infrastructure and the sustainability of the petroleum industry.
He said, “As we make efforts at digitization, so do we become vulnerable to cybercrime and other threats to petroleum infrastructure.
“Government expects that industry players especially the private sector and consumers, will cooperate with us as we roll out various measures to implement this very important policy,” Dr Amin said.
It would be recalled that some suspected arsonist hacked down Ghana Grid Company’s (GRIDCo) transmission tower in Tema early this year.
Few weeks after that incident, a gas pipeline belonging to private firm, Cirrus Oil Services in Tema power enclave, was also torched.
These incidents clearly showed that the country’s petroleum infrastructure and other critical installations are exposed to threats, hence the need for Energy Security Policy to address the threats.
Addressing industry players at the Ghana International Petroleum Conference in Accra, organised by the National Petroleum Authority, in partnership with Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors and Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Dr Amin Adam noted that the petroleum industry is now exposed to significant risks and danger of disruption, particularly the physical infrastructure on which the industry is built.
“The industry is associated with inefficiencies, leading to various forms of rent seeking, higher cost of operations and, consequently, poor service delivery.
“We must, therefore, take advantage of the global revolution to restructure operations of the industry, reduce cost and ensure competitive pricing of petroleum,” he stressed.
Touching on the distribution of premix fuel, Dr Amin said “we are, currently, exploring new digital pathways for addressing issues of diversion of heavily subsidized premix fuel.”
He, therefore, charged the National Petroleum Authority to develop and implement a digitization plan in the petroleum value chain across the country.
LPG Cylinder Recirculation Pilot Programme Begins In October
Ghana’s Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, says significant progress has been made towards the pilot implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model under the National Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Promotion Policy.
He said the Policy sought to ensure that LPG consumers have access to safe, efficient, affordable and environmentally-friendly LPG for commercial, industrial and domestic use by 2030.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company is producing 37,000 cylinders needed for the pilot project in October this year, in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region and Kwaebibirim in the Denkyemboa District of the Eastern Region.
Dr Bawumia assured of government’s commitment to continue implementing policies and programmes to protect the safety and interests of Ghanaians.
Vice President Bawumia announced this at the opening of the third edition of the Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhipCon) in Accra on Wednesday, held on the theme,” Regional Collaboration: A Catalyst for Transformation”.
The conference was organised by the Ministry of Energy and National Petroleum Authority in collaboration with the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, which attracted petroleum experts, policy-makers, business men and women and captains of industry in the sub-region.
It is designed to actively bring to the fore the operating industry’s perspectives and guidance on issues of governmental and regulatory policy as well as best practices for the advancement of the petroleum downstream sector across the West African sub-region.
It will also afford stakeholders in the petroleum downstream industry in West African sub-region, to harmonise their policies and explore opportunities to allow the industry to respond to global development and trends consistent with member countries’ interests and aid in their economic transformation.
Some topics outlined for discussion include; Unlocking West Africa’s Deregulatory Inertia, Making West Africa’s Refineries Work, Ghana’s Cylinder Recirculation Model, Harmonising Sub-regional Petroleum Products Specifications and Challenges of Regional Distribution of Petroleum Products.
The Vice President said government was in the process of ensuring institutional and regulatory re-alignment of the midstream gas sub-sector to bring clarity and a degree of certainty to players in the industry.
In that regard, he said, the Energy Minister would soon finalise re-alignment and commence legislative consolidation of the Gas Master Plan into a Gas Act, which was an important requirement for development of Ghana into a petrochemical hub in the West African sub-region.
He said the proposed Gas Act would provide an enabling environment and appropriate incentives for investors and assured of government’s resolve to make the security of gas supply as feedstock for petrochemical plans a priority.
He said procurement of natural gas from domestic sources had been secured under regulation governing domestic supply obligation of upstream gas producers.
Ghana Loses $200m In The Petroleum Sector To Illicit Activities – NPA Boss
The Republic of Ghana is said to be losing 200 million dollars of tax revenue to smuggling of petroleum products and other nefarious activities in the petroleum sector every year.
Chief Executive Officer of the country’s National Petroleum Authority Alhassan Tampuli who described these nefarious activities as “lucrative”, mentioned Takoradi port, Tema main Port, Prampram, Aflao and the eastern coastline as the unapproved offshore routes for the smuggling.
“These nefarious activities of the petroleum service providers and some that are not even service providers, led to the country losing colossal 200 million dollars per annum of tax revenue,” he said.
Speaking at this year’s Ghana international petroleum conference in Accra Wednesday, he said these activities are also causing the country to lose about 12 million dollars from the unified petroleum price fund annually.
Mr Tampuli indicated that some elements in the petroleum industry have made it their business to engage in nefarious activities which eventually leaves the country poorer.
He expressed concerns about smuggling of subsidized products such as premix, marine gas and gasoline, as well as what he termed fraudulent freight claims from some transporters and siphoning of LPG from bulk vehicles into surface tanks.
The Chief Executive revealed poor quality products from some neighbouring countries are smuggled by road through unapproved entry points between Ghana and Togo and eventually end up at private tank yards, mining companies and other retail outlets.
Again, he said some players have been dumping gas oil declared for sale to foreign vessels at local filling stations while some of them have been engaging in under-declaration and non-declaration of products lifted at various depots.
“Over 300,000 metric tonnes of actual annual consumption was unreported [last year]” he said.
On the back of these, he said the GNPC has in collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Navy and the security agencies rolled out measures to tackle the problem head-on to save the nation from the loses.
“I believe it is time for petroleum players in the sub-region to engage in a dialogue and the issues that confront us and find common unique solutions for the advancement of our respective countries.
Ghana: Distribution Of Premix Fuel Will Soon Be Digitized- Bawumia
Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has served notice that the digitization agenda of the government will soon be extended to the distribution of premix fuel in order to increase efficiency of its delivery to fishermen.
According to Vice President of the West African country, introducing digital technologies in premix distribution will ensure that fisherfolk, for whom the product is subsidized and provided for, actually get it.
Vice President Bawumia stated this when he delivered a Keynote Address at the 3rd Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhipCon) in Accra, capital of Ghana, on Wednesday 10th July, 2019.
“We have to increasingly leverage on the digital technologies that are available to increase efficiency in the downstream petroleum sector. One of the areas that we have been discussing and have taken a decision on is for example the distribution of premix fuel in Ghana amongst the fishermen,” Vice President Bawumia said.
“This is an area that has really been a challenging one because there are subsidies to premix fuel, and whenever there are subsidies, the distribution of the product tends to create economic rents, and when it creates these rents all sorts of people come in the middle and the fishermen, for whom this is designed, ultimately don’t even get the product because the products are smuggled and sold to other people who may not even be fishermen at higher prices.
“So we’ve been looking at this issue and we’ve decided that the best way to deal with this is to digitise the process so that we can be able to direct the subsidy to each boat that is registered. We’ve registered all the boats and we will implement a digitization process in the distribution of premix in Ghana soon, and we hope to extend it also to fertilizer in the next year as well. Digitization will also end the politicization of premix distribution,” he added.
Vice President Bawumia assured stakeholders in the petroleum downstream industry that government will create an enabling environment for downstream business to thrive competitively, efficiently and with the highest of safety standards.
“Government, through the Ministry of Energy is in the process of ensuring institutional and regulatory re-alignment of the midstream gas subsector to bring clarity and a degree of certainty to players within that subsector. The Minister for Energy would soon conclude the process of realignment and commence the process of legislative consolidation of the Gas Master Plan into a Gas Act. The proposed Gas Act will provide an enabling environment and appropriate incentives for investors.”
This year’s conference, organized by the National Petroleum Authority in partnership with Association of Oil Marketing Companies and Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors(CBOD), is under the theme “Regional Collaboration; A Catalyst for Transformation”, and being attended by stakeholders in the petroleum sector in the West Africa sub-region.
Ghana:Petroleum Sector Witnesses Growth In Indigenous Companies-Peter Amewu
Ghana’s Minister for Energy, John-Peter Amewu, has noted that the Petroleum Division of the West African country’s energy sector has seen increased growth of local firms from 2012.
He said by the end of 2016, 776 companies had registered with 480 being local companies, providing either direct or indirect services, ranging from catering services, logistics supplies to fabrication and waste management services.
He said the desire of government to develop indigenous capacity in the energy sector was to achieve about 51 per cent equity participation in wholesale supply and distribution in the electricity supply industry (ESI) in Ghana, with 60 per cent local content; and also develop capacity in the manufacturing industry for electrical cable, conductors and accessories, among others.
The Minister said this in a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy William Owuraku Aidoo at the opening of the 2nd Ghana Energy Summit organized by the Ministry of Energy, in partnership with the Business and Financial Times in Accra.
The theme was: ‘Harnessing Opportunities in Ghana’s Energy Sector-Making Local Participation a Practical Reality’.
The Summit, which opened on Tuesday in Accra, would provide an opportunity for the global energy industry, academics and students, interest groups, journalists, government officials and the public at large, to interact with one another in a non-partisan environment on significant regional, national and global energy issues.
The Energy Minister stated that the Procurement Plan, Technology Transfer Programme, Research and Development Programme, Employment and Training Schedule, Succession Plan and Allied Service Content of business entities in the ESI shall comply with the requirements of L.I 2354 and approved by the Commission.
He said to effectively achieve the above, a baseline study had been conducted on the ESI to measure the current state of local content and local participation in the sector.
Mr Amewu said a Universal Qualification System had been developed among others to facilitate registration by companies and also serve as an online database of companies.
He noted that, in spite of increased local participation in the sector, local companies were faced with numerous challenges, which ranged from lack of finance, human capacity development and technology, among others.
Mr Amewu said the limited capacities of local companies to deliver services required was due to the absence of infrastructure to support the development of the petroleum industry, which limited the volume of work to be carried out in the country.
“Ghana, therefore, needs her own unique strategy of technological progress, pursued with all seriousness if Ghanaians are to make any meaningful impact soon,” he added.
He suggested that investments made should lead to an increase in human capacity to promote skills training and retraining of staff.
Mr Isaac Osei, Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), urged government to create the enabling environment for private entities to thrive, since that was the only way to build a robust and vibrant petroleum industry.
He said government should strengthen and expand the capacity and infrastructure of TOR to be able to add value to crude oil mined from the upstream.
Mr Kwame Jantuah, Chief Executive Officer, African Energy Consortium, said if the country did not change its political setup, politics would continue to interfere in the private sector and hinder it from successfully achieving its goals.
He said the success of the hub was dependent on the stock of crude oil the nation had, and that, it was important for government to consider the onshore Voltaian basin to feed the local oil refineries.
Ghana Rewards Community Efforts To Reduce Carbon Emissions
Ghana has become the third country in Africa to sign a landmark agreement with the World Bank that rewards community efforts to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Other countries that have signed the agreement include Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ghana’s five-year Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund, which is administered by the World Bank, unlocks performance-based payments of up to $50 million for carbon emission reductions from the forest and land use sectors.
In Ghana, forest degradation and deforestation are driven primarily by cocoa farm expansion, coupled with logging and a recent increase in illegal mining.
Working in close partnership with the Forestry Commission, Cocoa Board, and private sector, Ghana’s programme with the FCPF Carbon Fund seeks to reduce carbon emissions through the promotion of climate-smart cocoa production.
“The programme’s two central goals – reducing carbon emissions in the forestry sector and producing truly sustainable, climate-smart cocoa beans – make it unique in Africa and the first of its kind in the cocoa and forest sectors worldwide,” Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Chief Executive of Ghana’s Forestry Commission said.
“This programme is helping to secure the future of Ghana’s forests while enhancing income and livelihood opportunities for farmers and forest-dependent communities,” Afriyie added.
In Ghana’s ERPA, the FCPF Carbon Fund commits to making initial results-based payments for reductions of 10 million tons of CO2 emissions (up to $50 million).
Ghana’s ERPA also specifies on carbon emission baselines, price per ton of avoided CO2 emissions, and a benefit-sharing mechanism that has been prepared based on extensive consultations with local stakeholders and civil society organisations throughout the country.
“It’s exciting to see the level of stakeholder engagement Ghana has been able to achieve with its emission reduction programme, particularly with the private sector. Some of the most important cocoa and chocolate companies in the world, including World Cocoa Foundation members such as Mondelēz International, Olam, Touton and others, as well as Ghana’s Cocoa Board have committed to participating in the programme,” says Pierre Frank Laporte, the World Bank country director for Ghana.
Source: Esi-Africa.com