Nigeria Needs N36 Trillion for Power Supply
Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) in Nigeria, have revealed that it will take not less than N36 trillion to ensure a stable power supply in the country. The Discos said the investments will be needed over a period of 20 years.
The Discos disclosed that the investments will include N3.6 trillion in distribution networks over the next five years.
The entire power supply value chain of the Discos, according to them, will also take about N14.4 trillion over the next two decades.
According to a November 2018 edition of the Monthly Business Expectations Survey Report of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), insufficient power supply is the most compelling factor that constrains businesses in the West African Nation.
Similarly, research by the World Bank revealed “that power outages and deficient power infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa had a measurable negative impact on economic growth over the period of 1995−2007”.
Source: Petroleumafrica.com
Ghana: LPG Marketing Companies Demand Removal Of Taxes On LPG
The LPG Marketing Companies Association in the Republic of Ghana is calling on the government to remove all taxes on the Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
The Association argued that “the product which used to be subsidized has its price build-up been constituted of more than 23% taxes now.”
Government of Ghana through the petroleum downstream regulator, the National Petroleum Authority, is implementing Cylinder Recirculation Model, which is seeking to increase domestic and industrial LPG consumption by at least 50% by 2030.
However, in a statement signed by Justice Adu Mante, secretary of the association, the LPG Marketers Association said considering the saturated market of the product, the only way to increase use is by creating access for new users.
The removal of taxes, the association says, “will significantly bring down the cost of the LPG and make it possible for the ordinary Ghanaian to afford it.”
Below is the full statement
LPG MC
Ghanaian Lawmakers Ask Government To Address Energy Sector Debts
Ghanaian lawmakers have called on the country’s Minister of Finance and the Minister of Energy, to as a matter of urgency, activate the cash waterfall scheme and other prudent measures to address the debt accumulation in the energy sector.
The lawmakers in the West African country further called on the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori Atta to conduct an audit to determine the level of indebtedness among the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the Energy Sector.
Moreover, the legislators urged the Minister of Finance to consider issuing a new bond to finance the remaining legacy debts in the Energy Sector.
Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee whilst presenting a Report of the Finance Committee of Parliament expressed the need to address the growing indebtedness in the sector in order to avert any potential power crisis.
The lawmakers on Tuesday, approved the Annual Report on the management of the energy sector levies and accounts for the year 2018.
The purpose of the Annual Report is to inform Parliament on the Management and use of the funds realized from the imposition of the levies under Act 899.
The Energy Sector Levies Act, 2015 (Act 899) as amended in 2017 (Act 946), was promulgated in 2015 to address the huge burden and operational challenges facing SOEs in the Energy Sector, support power generation and power supply, subsidize premix and stabilized petroleum prices, support road maintenance as well as fund the activities of the Energy Commission.
To achieve these objects, Act 899 imposed a number of levies namely the Energy Debt Recovery Levy (EDRL), Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL), Road Fund Levy (RFL), Energy Fund Levy (EFL), Public Lighting Levy and National Electrification Scheme Levy on the prices of petrol, diesel, MGO, fuel oil, kerosene, LPG as well as electricity. The proceeds from the imposition of the levies are to pay off the huge debt in the energy sector, among others.
The lawmakers also found it unacceptable for the Finance Minister’s intervention to suspend the PSRL without due process to Parliament.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah said the measure might be laudable in order to provide some relief for Ghanaians in the face of escalating petroleum prices at the pumps at the time.
The Committee subsequently urged the Minister of Finance to follow due process by coming to Parliament to get any section of the law amended, thereby upholding the rule of law.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah also observed that an amount of GHC3, 190,738,564.82 was collected as levies for the period as against a programmed collection of GHC 3, 507,036,778.77. This resulted in a shortfall in collection of GHC 316, 298,213.98 representing a 9.2 per cent shortfall.
He said at the end of 2018, the Energy Debt Recovery Levy (EDRL), Road Fund Levy and Energy Fund Levy outperformed their targets by 7.9 per cent, 0.72 per cent and 7.29 per cent respectively.
He said the positive performance of the levees was on account of 11.79 per cent increase in consumption volumes in 2018 compared with the same period in 2017.
Mr John Jinapor, Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei Kusugwu, in his comment expressed concern about the mounting indebtedness in the country’s energy sector.
He urged the government to take careful measures to address the debt accumulation, saying, if nothing is done the sector may collapse.
He said Minister of Energy had no business to suspend the PSRL and that it was the only parliament that had the power to vary a tax or levy.
Mr Anthony Effah, MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa in his comment on the report stated that the levies collected over the period were properly lodged into the established accounts.
He said the evidence was given by the percentages of the collections of levies that were actually lodged.
He explained that for the utilization of the energy sector levies, a significant portion of the amount went into the ESLA plc for managing the debts of energy sectors SOEs and also provided support for premix and residual fuel.
Source: GNA
ENI & Vitol, First E&P Win Oil Blocks In Ghana
Ghana’s Ministry of Energy has announced winners for oil blocks GH_WB_02 and GH_WB_03 located in the Deepwater Cape Three Points in the Western Basin.
First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company, in partnership with Elandel Energy (Ghana), won block GH_WB_02 while ENI Ghana Exploration and Production Limited, in partnership with Vitol Upstream Tano Limited, emerged winner of block GH_WB_03.
A statement issued and signed by Head of Communications and Public Affairs Unit of the Ministry, Nana Kofi Damoah, said the government has, therefore, invited the winners for negotiations on the detailed terms of the Petroleum Agreement pursuant to Regulation 18 of the General Petroleum Regulations 2018 LI 2359 for the two blocks.
The West African country, early this year, earmarked about six oil blocks for exploration.
Three of the blocks-2, 3 and 4-were to go through competitive bidding process, while two blocks-5 and 6-were supposed to be direct negotiations.
Block 1 was reserved for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
The bidding round attracted multinational oil companies such US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, British Petroleum (BP), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Qatar Petroleum and Aker Energy.
The rest were Cairn Energy, Global Petroleum Group, First E&P, Sasol, Equinor and Harmony Oil and Gas Corporation, Tullow Ghana Limited, Total, ENI Ghana, Vitol and Kosmos Energy.
Unfortunately, most of the oil majors pulled out at the last minute.
ENI and Vitol, as well as Tullow Ghana Limited, were the only companies that submitted bids for block 3, with First E&P submitting bid for block 2.
Ghana: Parts of Volta Region, Oti To Experience Power Outage Tomorrow
Some residents in parts of the Volta Region of the Republic of Ghana will on Wednesday, 3rd July, 2019, experience power cuts from 8:00am to 6:00pm.
This is because power transmission company, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), has requested power distribution services (PDS) Ghana Limited to curtail power supply to the region to enable them carry out maintenance works at the Kpeve Bulk Supply Point.
In this regard, the areas to be affected are Tsito, Kpeve, Peki, Kpando, Amedzope, Anfoega, Nkonya and Alavanyo.
The rest are Jasikan, Wurawura, Bodada, Kadjebi, Nkwanta, Fodome, Dambai and surrounding areas.
OPEC Extends Output Cuts For 9 Months
OPEC members have agreed to extend the voluntary oil production cuts for another nine months, with the aim to keep the oil prices “stable,” with Russia also supporting the extension.
“In view of the current fundamentals and the consensus view on the outlook for the remainder of 2019, the Conference decided to extend the voluntary production adjustments agreed at the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference for an additional period of nine months from 01 July 2019 to 31 March 2020,” OPEC said Monday following the OPEC conference in Vienna.
The extension was also supported by Russia, the 15th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of OPEC and participating not OPEC countries also held in Vienna on Monday.
According to a statement by the Russian energy ministry, the JMMC meeting participants confirmed their readiness to ensure a balanced oil market, and also supported the proposal to extend the agreement to restrict oil production for another 9 months. Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said that the extension for a longer period was not discussed.
The 6th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting is taking place on 02 July 2019.
OPEC on Monday said the conference had taken note of oil market developments since it last met in Vienna on 06/07 December 2018, and reviewed the oil market outlook for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020.
“It was noted that economic bearishness is now increasingly prevalent, with major challenges and mounting uncertainties related to ongoing trade negotiations, monetary policy developments, as well as geopolitical issues,” OPEC said.
“It was also observed that oil demand growth for 2019 has been revised down since the last meeting of the Conference to now stand at 1.14 million barrels a day (mb/d), and non-OPEC supply in 2019 is expected to grow at a robust pace of 2.14 mb/d, year-on-year,” OPEC added.
Ahead of the decision on the extended cuts, Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez, Venezuela’s People’s Minister of Petroleum, and President of the OPEC Conference commended “the stellar efforts” of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who has led the way in terms of its voluntary production adjustment.
“This has been driven by HE Al-Falih, who has put his country ‘front and center’ of the efforts to rebalance the market and return the sustainable stability we all desire,” Fernandez said.
He also said that the involuntary supply disruptions in a number of OPEC Member Countries have “in fact impacted supply developments more than the voluntary productions adjustments in the ‘Declaration of Cooperation’”
“From Venezuela, we raise our voice in order to avoid using the oil market as a tool to attack the economies of sovereign nations, which directly affects the welfare and development of the people. This is undoubtedly unjust, illegal and immoral, especially if the one who exercises it does so pursuing dominance,” Fernandez said hinting at the U.S. sanctions against OPEC members Venezuela and Iran.
Ahead of the OPEC meeting, energy intelligence firm Wood Mackenzie said that worsening tensions between US and Iran added potential for oil price volatility that could be tricky for OPEC members to manage.
Ann-Louise Hittle, vice president, Macro Oils, at Wood Mackenzie said on Sunday: “There is a downside risk for oil demand through the rest of the year if the ongoing trade war intensifies.
“Our forecast assumes no further trade war escalation. On that basis, we expect a tightening in the supply and demand balance in the second half of 2019, which supports prices. Brent is forecast to average $68 per barrel for 2019 as a whole and $69.50/b in the second half of 2019.”
She added: “OPEC compliance is strong, except for Iraq and Nigeria. In May this year, Saudi Arabia had cut its production by more than 0.8 million b/d from its October 2018 reference level. This is far more than required.”
“Adherence to quotas is strong from United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, as well as Algeria and Congo. But Libya, which is exempt from production restraint, saw a recovery in its output in May to around 1.1 million b/d.
“Year-on-year, OPEC crude oil production for 2019 is expected to decline by 1.8 million b/d, with more than half of that reflecting the impact of US oil sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. Venezuela’s production was already in decline, but US oil sanctions are biting, with the country seeing a further 500,000 b/d fall in output since the beginning of the year.”
In 2019, Iran’s production is expected to fall by 1 million b/d year-on-year, as US oil sanctions cut into its oil exports, especially after waivers for consuming nations to import limited Iranian oil were ended in early May 2019. Together, Venezuela and Iran’s crude oil production in 2019 is forecast to fall 1.6 million b/d.
“Non-OPEC production — and US oil supply – are strong, but these losses to OPEC supply carve into global supply growth this year, leaving it at just 0.7 million b/d,” Ms Hittle said.
“The market also faces the uncertainty of the escalation of threats between the US and Iran. That would pose a supply risk in a 100 million b/d global market, with just 3.8 million b/d of spare productive capacity from OPEC. Only 1.8 million b/d of that spare capacity could be made available within a month.
“At present, OPEC has capacity to boost output by about 3.8 million b/d within nine months. Almost all of the 1.8 million b/d that could be brought to market within a month is held by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. If a significant outage occurs, the ability of the global industry to meet oil demand will be at risk,” she said.
Source: offshoreenergytoday.com
Ethiopia Removes Troubling Banking Directive To Spur Oil Investments
A previous directive by Ethiopia’s Central Bank requiring oil companies to open and maintain a bank account in the local currency, has been lifted.
The directive was to be supervised by the NBE and mandated that foreign firms use local currency to conduct business within the country.
The action to lift this requirement was spurred by the negative feedback from oil and gas exploration companies operating in the country, and the reluctance shown to make further investments.
Negotiations for new exploration concessions were halted by the oil companies after this requirement was initiated. Appeals to the government by both the oil companies and the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum ultimately resulted in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ceding to their demands and canceling the directive.
Companies currently operating in the country include Africa Oil, Delonex Energy, Gazprom, New Age, Poly GCL, and South West Energy.
Ghana: LPG Cylinder Recirculation Pilot Begins In Obuasi, Oforikrom In July
Ghana’s downstream petroleum regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), is piloting its LPG cylinder recirculation model policy which is aimed at addressing safety issues in Obuasi and Oforikrom in July.
This means that LPG consumers in the two towns in the West African country, will no longer carry cylinders to go and refill them. Instead, consumers would go to designated LPG redistribution stations with their empty cylinders to exchange for an already filled cylinder.
The purpose of the cylinder recirculation model is to ensure safe delivery of LPG and curb explosions at gas stations.
Cabinet gave approval on October 12, 2017, for the implementation of cylinder recirculation model policy following explosions at the Mansco Gas Station at Atomic Junction, in Accra.
Speaking at the launch of Health Safety Security and Environment (HSSE) Manual for the Energy Sector, Dr. Amin Adam noted that after the piloting, government would then roll out the policy in other parts of the country.
“I’m happy to inform you that we will start a pilot of this in July in Obuasi and Oforikrom, with a view to scaling up nationwide by the end of year. By this, customers of LPG will no longer have to hold cylinders that they have difficulty in even managing in their homes.
“They have to now use cylinder that is managed by people who are trained to do so. In other words, you have to go to the cylinder exchange point, where there will be filled cylinders to take and go and use. Bring an empty cylinder and take a filled cylinder. So what it means is that, there will no longer be cylinder discharged at the exchange point, nor will you have a cylinder bought by you from the seller who is not able to train you on how to use the cylinder. “This is all aimed at ensuring the safety of our people; safety of our environment; safety of the patrons of our services,” he explained.
Call for safety
Dr Amin Adam who expressed serious concerns about gas explosions which has ended the lives many, especially customers charged petroleum downstream, operators especially fuel stations to ensure safety of the stations and their customers.
He told them to bear in mind that if they fail to with safety protocols and their business gets burnt they stand the chance of losing customers and their investment.
“Those who come to patronize our services must be protected by us. In the marketing parlance, they will say that “your customer is the king.”
“So, if the customer is the king, and the customer is not protected, and the customer is so exposed to danger, and the customer decides to make decides to make appropriate choices, your business is in danger.
“And I tell you, many customers are becoming so aware to avoid services or service providers that do not provide safety measures to protect them. Of all the explosions that we have experienced so far, either from petrol stations or LPG stations, patrons of the services, customers, more customers have died than the workers that are providing the services. More customers have suffered serious injuries than the workers themselves. Because you go and most of the stations have just one or two workers so even if there are explosions, the workers are only two people, but you would have seen tens of people coming for the services. And for the others, even though there are not coming for the services, they may be passing by, and yet all of them are exposed to the danger, just because of the negligence of one business person.
“We should never, under any circumstances, put profiteering over the safety of our customers,” he concluded.
Minor Oil Discovery For Aker BP In North Sea
Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP has finalized the results after drilling wildcat well 24/9-15 S (Froskelår Nordøst) and appraisal well 24/9-15 A, located in the North Sea offshore Norway.
The drilling resulted in a minor oil discovery.
The wells are located in production license 340 where Aker BP is the operator.
The wells, which are also pilot wells for test production, were drilled diagonally and horizontally, 2 and 3 kilometers northeast and north respectively, from the subsea template on the Bøyla field in the central part of the North Sea, and 225 kilometers west of Stavanger, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) informed on Monday.
The 24/9-12 S (Frosk) oil discovery was proven in reservoir rocks (injectites) in the Eocene (the Intra Hordaland group) in the winter of 2018. Prior to drilling of appraisal well 24/9-15 A, the operator’s resource estimate for the discovery was between 5 and 10 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil.
The objective of well 24/9-15 S was to prove petroleum and reservoir potential in (injectites) in the Intra Hordaland group. The well encountered a vertical oil column of 49 meters with sandy layers totaling about 10 meters, mainly with very good reservoir properties. The oil/water contact was encountered 1836 meters below the sea surface.
The preliminary size of the discovery is between 0.3 and 1.6 million Sm3 of recoverable oil, and it extends into the neighboring license, 869. The licensees will continue to assess the discovery together with other nearby discoveries, with regard to follow-up and a potential development.
The objective of well 24/9-15 A was to delimit the northern part of the 24/9-12 S (Frosk) oil discovery. The well encountered oil-bearing injectite zones totaling 50 meters with very good to extremely good reservoir properties in the Hordaland group. The oil/water contact was not encountered.
The result of the delineation of the 24/9-12 S (Frosk) oil discovery is presumed to lie within the resource range estimated earlier. The plan is to carry out test production from bilateral wells in the Frosk reservoir starting in the third quarter of 2019 and with an initial duration of six months.
The production will take place via the subsea template on the Bøyla field and will be transported 26 kilometers north to the Alvheim production vessel (FPSO). The primary objective of the test production is to reduce the risk associated with recovering these resources.
The wells were not formation-tested, but data has been collected.
These were the seventh and eighth exploration wells in production license 340, which was awarded in APA 2004.
The well 24/9-15 S was drilled to respective vertical and measured depths of 1900 and 4310 meters below the sea surface.
The well 24/9-15 A was drilled to respective vertical and measured depths of 1810 and 3853 meters below the sea surface. The wells were terminated in the Hordaland group in the Eocene.
Water depth at the site is 119 meters. The wells have been permanently plugged and abandoned.
Wells 24/9-15 S and 24/9-15 A were drilled by the Scarabeo 8 drilling rig, which will now drill a production well on the Marulk field in production license 122 in the Norwegian Sea, where Vår Energi is the operator.
Source: offshoreenergytoday.com
Report: Two Workers Killed Aboard Shell’s Auger Platform In Gulf Of Mexico
Two offshore workers have reportedly been killed in an incident aboard Shell’s Auger platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
According to Reuters, the incident happened on Sunday morning during a test related to “a lifeboat launch and retrieval capabilities” at the Auger deepwater platform. One other person sustained a non-life-threatening injury.
U.S. Coast Guard has yet to respond to Offshore Energy Today’s request for comment.
As for the Auger platform, in 1994, it was the world’s first tension leg platform, operating in the US Gulf of Mexico, moored to the sea floor 830 meters (2,720 feet) below. The platform’s life was extended when it in 2014 began producing energy from a nearby Cardamom field.
Ghana’s Energy Ministry To Announce Winners Of Oil Blocks In Its Maiden Bid Round July 2
The Ministry of Energy in the Republic of Ghana will on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, announce the winners for the three oil blocks it earmarked for competitive bidding in the maiden licensing bid rounds.
Negotiations and awarding of the oil blocks are expected to follow after the announcement of the winners.
The West African country, early this year, earmarked about five oil blocks for exploration.
Three of the blocks-2, 3 and 4-were to go through competitive bidding process, while two blocks 5 and 6 were supposed to be direct negotiations.
Block 1 was reserved for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
The bidding round attracted multinational oil companies such US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, British Petroleum (BP), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Qatar Petroleum and Aker Energy.
The rest were Cairn Energy, Global Petroleum Group, First E&P, Sasol, Equinor and Harmony Oil and Gas Corporation, Tullow Ghana Limited, Total, ENI Ghana, Vitol and Kosmos Energy.
Unfortunately, most of the oil majors pulled out at the last minute.
ENI and Vitol, as well as Tullow Ghana Limited, were the only companies that submitted bids for block 3, with First E&P submitting bid for block 2.
Exxon, Shell May Return To Explore For Oil In Somalia
Exxon and Shell could return to Somalia ahead of an oil bid round that the East African country plans to hold later in 2019, Reuters has reported on Friday, citing a statement from Somalia’s oil ministry.
Shell and Exxon, which had a joint venture to explore five blocks offshore Somalia, stopped exploration and development in 1990 under force majeure because of the protracted hostilities in the country.
The two oil supermajors have accrued rentals to the government since then, Shell told Reuters in a statement, while the Somali oil ministry said on Friday that an agreement was signed on June 21 in Amsterdam, settling the issues with the rentals and other obligations on offshore blocks accrued.
Exxon and Shell have agreed to hold talks with Somalia’s government to convert their decades-old contracts in line with the new petroleum law that Somalia passed in May.
Yet, despite these developments, the force majeure remains in place, Shell told Reuters.
Last month, Somalia passed its new Petroleum Law, hoping that it is “at the beginning of a journey that will be key to Somalia’s sustainable development and poverty reduction, as well as the continued development of the stable state and civil institutions,” Somalia’s Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, said.
Somalia currently doesn’t produce oil, but hopes that it could hold a lot of oil and gas as “recently completed seismic programs highlighted similar geological structures to those with proven oil & gas reserves in neighboring basins located in Seychelles, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique indicating that Somalia could become one of the most significant oil plays in offshore East Africa,” the oil ministry said in May.
Somalia launched in February a licensing round for 15 blocks, tentatively setting the bid date for November 7, 2019.
The country hopes that seismic surveys and drilling of exploration wells could begin in 2020-2021.
While drafting the details of an oil bid round, Somalia will also have to attend hearings in September 2019 at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over its maritime dispute with Kenya.
In February this year, Kenya broke diplomatic relations with neighbor Somalia after a row over several oil and gas blocks escalated into an open conflict.
Source: Oilprice.com
Kenya Power Investigates Allegations Of fraud In The Postpaid Billing System
Kenya Power is investigating an incident from 2018 where information was received from some customers and members of the public on fraudulent activities targeting unsuspecting customers.
In a statement, the utility noted that it immediately commenced investigations on the alleged fraudulent activities which have since been completed.
According to Kenya Power, they were noted to be cybercrimes involving some of their staff members and members of the public.
Disciplinary action on members of staff found culpable has been initiated and is ongoing.
Owing to the fraudulent activities being criminal in nature, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) got involved. The Company fully supports the ongoing investigations by the DCI and are confident that the culprits will be brought to book.
At the same time, the Company is continually working to enhance the customer experience and improve existing controls to forestall such occurrences in future.
In addition, Kenya Power wants to inform its customers and members of the public that all payments for Kenya Power services, including electricity connections and power bills can only be made through its banking halls, appointed banks and other authorized mobile money payment channels such as Airtel Money and MPESA Paybill numbers 888888 for postpaid and 888880 for prepaid services.
Official receipts are issued upon payment. Any other payment outside these channels are deemed fraudulent.
“We urge our customers to remain vigilant to avert cases of fraudsters targeting our operations and to report suspicious transactions to the nearest Kenya Power office or police station.
“The Company continues to make every effort to ensure that our services deliver improved customer experience. We also take this opportunity to appreciate our valued customers, and thank them for their unwavering support over the years,” the utility concluded.
Source:Esi-Africa.com
West Africa Will Begin Cross-Border Sale Of Electricity In 2020
From 2020, West Africa will commence cross-border sale and distribution of electricity among member states of ECOWAS.
This is according to Chairman of Regulatory Council of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), Honoré Bogler, who confirmed the development to Premium Times.
Bogler revealed this while he was in Abuja, Nigeria after the swearing in of the three-man regional regulatory council.
The chairman assured that his council would reposition the power sector of the West Africa region.
Bogler noted: “No country in the sub-region has the necessary funding to get electricity to every home in every country. That is why the heads of states and government decided to create a market power pool so that all the potentialities we have in the region, in terms oil, gas, sun, wind – could be harnessed for the benefit of the people.
“The only limitation we face to harness these potentialities has been lacking of funds to get these resources working for the population.”
Supervising the electricity market
Bogler further reiterated the mandate of ERERA, which he said it to provide the link between all the interest groups, supervise the effective functioning of the electricity market, by arbitrating on any dispute arising from the arrangement between the operators.
“The aim is to have a power market in the region, working with commercial rules and regulations that will be sustainable. We think people will have the best price of electricity if we use the regional resources that are cheaper to feed our network. ERERA will monitor and supervise all these to get it running in an organized manner.
“By 2020, the region will be ready for the transmission of power from one country to the other,” he said.
He continued: “Once that is achieved, we will go into the phase of the plan whereby all the countries in the region would have the opportunity of buying electricity from the market through the regional lines.”
Source: Esi-Africa.com