End of load shedding, VRA, GRIDCo give different dates

CONSUMERS of power have to brace themselves up for more blackouts as  the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Volta River Authority (VRA) provide different periods for the probable end to the load-shedding programme.

While GRIDCo has stated the end of April as the probable date to normalise power supply to Ghanaians, the VRA is projecting some time in May.

Ghanaians have, since August 2012, been hit by an erratic power supply as a result of a major fault on one of the pipelines supplying gas from Nigeria to help generate electricity in the country. 

Since then, a number of deadlines or periods for the end of the current load shedding have been changed from one month to another.

But there is hope in sight, as the Bui Power Authority (BPA) promises to add 133.33 megawatts from its first generation unit by the end of March this year to boost the national grid. 

With that boost, Ghanaians expect that the canker of “dum so, dum so” will minimise.

The national energy distributor, GRIDCo, however, hopes that the situation should normalise by the end of April this year, although the main energy generator, the VRA, has pegged May as the time when the challenges of power generation and distribution could normalise.

Officials of the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) also hope that gas supply from Nigeria to Ghana will be restored by the end of April to give the power generation firms more energy to generate electricity.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRIDCo, Mr Charles Darku, the current generation inadequacy was likely to prolong the crisis until the end of April this year.

That, he said, would be informed by the inauguration of GRIDCo’s new substation at Kintampo, the Takoradi Thermal Three (T3) project and the resumption of gas supply from WAPCo. 

He told the Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday that generation inadequacy had seen a 25 per cent deficit in the reserve margin.

“Reserve margins have been eaten into and, therefore, we will need an additional 200 megawatts to make up for the shortfall,” Mr Darku said.

He said for stability in power supply, there must always be some 2,250 power reserve capacity to cater for the inadequacies in the system.

He further intimated that the increased demand for power required the generation of at least 200 megawatts annually, noting, however, that the “lack of investment in the sector over the past years has brought us where we are today”. 

Mr Darku took a swipe at officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for being unprofessional in their approach to power rationing.

The ECG had, on Monday night, cut power supply to most parts of Accra and its environs due to what its officials said was a directive from GRIDCo to shed an additional 400 megawatts across the country.

The company blames its inability to follow its own scheduled timetable for load rationing across the country on GRIDCo.

Mr Darku, who took exception to the ECG’s accusation, said the decision to instruct for the shedding off of the additional 400 megawatts was informed by trips on the generating systems at Aboadze and one of the Akosombo generation systems going off.

Meanwhile, officials of WAPCo have set April 30, this year as the tentative date for the resumption of gas supply to Ghana.

The General Manager in charge of Corporate Affairs at WAPCo, Ms Harriet Wereko-Brobby, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic, said officials were working fervently to ensure the date was met.  

An External Relations Assistant of the BPA, Mr Gabriel Apatu, told the Daily Graphic that plans were far advanced to add the 133.33 megawatts of power to the national energy requirement.

He said one of the three generating units of the BPA would be ready to produce 133.33 megawatts by the end of March this year, while the remaining two generating units would be added to the national grid by June this year. 

However, at a public forum in Tamale on Monday, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reports that the Head of the Corporate Communications Unit of the VRA, Mr Samuel Fletcher, urged consumers to brace themselves up for the load-shedding exercise until May.

Presenting an update on the power situation in the country, he said the authority anticipated to add 200 megawatts of power from various power production units across the country to the national grid by May to restore normal power supply.

The forum, organised by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), brought together utility providers, including the VRA, GRIDCo, the Northern Electricity Distribution Company and the Ghana Water Company Limited/Ghana Urban Water Limited (GWCL/GUWL), and consumers from the Northern and Upper East regions to share their concerns and experiences on the quality of utility provision.  

Mr Fletcher said work on the pipeline was expected to be completed in May to supply natural gas from Nigeria to the VRA to aid its operations and reduce the cost of power production.

The situation has compelled the VRA to buy light crude oil to power its thermal plants to produce electricity at great cost, without a corresponding increase in revenue.

Documents made available to the GNA by the VRA indicated that the authority spent close to US$3 million daily to run its thermal plants using light crude oil, which was double the cost of using natural gas.

Mr Fletcher said if natural gas did not arrive as expected and "if the VRA continues to sell electricity to the ECG at the current price, then production from our thermal  plants would have to be reduced or discontinued and that would mean further load shedding".

He, therefore, called on consumers to collaborate with the VRA to buy more crude oil to produce more electricity to eliminate the load shedding and reduce the financial loss.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Wed, Feb 20, 2013

Solar lamps for off-grid rural communities

THE government is set to distribute solar lamps to off-grid rural communities to replace kerosene lanterns as part of measures to mitigate any effect the removal of subsidies on fuel will have on the rural poor.

The withdrawal of subsidies on petroleum products has seen the price of kerosene being revised upwards from GH¢2.21 to GH¢4.71. 

Under the programme, to be implemented in three phases, 20,000 solar lanterns will be distributed to some 1,000 communities in remote island communities under  phase one at a cost of GH¢2 million between January 2013 and June 2014.

The Head of Public Relations at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MOEP), Mr Edward Bawa, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said the targeted households would be required to turn in their kerosene lamps or pay subsidised prices for the solar lamps valued at GH¢100 each.

Under the second phase, which will span a period of two years (2014-2016), a local assembly plant would be established to assemble some 50,000 solar lamps for distribution through a grant of 50 per cent subsidy package, Mr Bawa said.

“This is aimed at ensuring a sustainable market for solar lantern promotion in the country and also serve to reduce the expenditure of rural people on energy for lighting,” he said, adding that the government intended to build local capacity and create jobs in the assembling and maintenance of the lanterns in the country.

He noted that phase three of the project, which will span a period of 18 months, would be aimed at supporting promotional support for the project as part of a sustainability and market chain development.
At that level, consumers would pay the full cost of the lamps, he indicated.

Mr Bawa said the government was working out sustainable modalities for the distribution of specially designed LPG bottles under its rural LPG programme.

“The modalities are being worked out to provide subsidy for the project through the rural LPG compensation fund,” he said.

He also said the installation of solar PVs for off-grid remote and island communities which had been ongoing since 2010 as part of a programme to reduce the use of kerosene in beneficiary communities would be upscaled, in line with the government’s programme to progressively extend electricity to rural communities across the country. 

“Our expectation is that while this project seeks to accelerate the development of rural communities, it will also help eliminate the impact of smoke-related diseases on the health of women and children who are at the centre of rural activities in remote communities nationwide,” Mr Bawa said.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo,  Daily Graphic, Tue, Feb 19, 2013

GNPC to host international conference on oil, gas

THE Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has said that the continued investments in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector were clear indications that the country had chalked up phenomenal success in regulating the sector.

According to the GNPC officials, the country’s successes had stimulated further interest among players across the West African Atlantic Margin.

“These achievements, however, cannot be attributed to a small segment of obvious players in the industry but a large fraternity of players, some of whom are providing intangible services towards the attainment of the industry’s goal,” the Geophysics Manager at GNPC, Mr Theo Ahwireng, said in Accra.

Mr Ahwireng was addressing a press conference to launch the 2013 edition of Offshore West Africa (OWA) Oil and Gas conference and exhibition.

The three-day conference which is to be held from March 19-21 on the theme, “Exploring the dynamics of West Africa Offshore,” is expected to provide a platform for stakeholders to share ideas and learn from experts on the latest technologies and solutions relating to offshore exploration.

The programme; to be hosted by the GNPC with sponsorship from Tullow Oil, among other stakeholders; would combine a high class conference to demonstrate newer technologies in exploration and production of oil.

Plenary sessions, which would be held as part of the programme, would see various speakers from Ghana, the United States, the United Kingdom and other areas presenting papers on topics on Deep Water Project Economics, Well Construction and Drilling Operations, Field Developments, Floating Production Systems, among other topics.

According to the organisers, Penwell Corporation, a United States-based diversified business-to-business publishing company, the OWA, had become a leading oil and gas platform where experiences and technologies were shared and businesses were developed.

Over 60 exhibitors are expected to participate in the three-day event which would also bring together national and international operators.

Mr Ahwireng said in spite of a drop in the production level at the Jubilee fields, tremendous gains had been made with the production of 100,000 barrels of crude oil on daily basis.

“The focus on Ghana today in the West African sub-region, in spite of production activities still in its early days, is not accidental,” he said.

He indicated that the OWA platform would afford Ghana the opportunity to reflect and take stock of the various actors pursuing interests that were likely to be to the greater good of the industry.

He expressed the hope that the OWA would also afford local experts the opportunity to make contacts and strike business deals that would help the country to shape the agenda for the growth of the different facets of the industry.

The Coordinator of Local Content at the Petroleum Commission (PC), Dr Juliette Twumasi-Anokye, announced that the commission was registering all operators in the up-stream sector to enable officials to monitor the issues relating to procurement and employment as part of the local content policy.

The Director of Offshore Conferences, Mr David Paganie, had earlier in his welcome address, said the growing business opportunities in the sub-region had necessitated the need to aid the region to maximise the potentials of its resources.

He expressed the hope that participants would take advantage of the business opportunities that the forum would create to contribute their quota to the sub-region’s development.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Mon, Feb 19, 2013

Independence anniversary celebration launched

GHANA’S 56th Independence anniversary celebrations was launched in Accra yesterday with a call on Ghanaians to endeavour to do their best to leave a better nation for posterity.

This year’s celebrations, which will be on the theme; “Partnership and Innovation to build a better and new Ghana”, will be marked with a series of activities including wreath laying to commemorate the Christianborg Crossroad shooting, Special what-do-you-know competition, inter-schools debate among other events.

A nationwide clean-up exercise would also be undertaken as well as the presentation of the President’s award to deserving school children.

There will also be a re-enactment of the declaration of Independence by the Ghana Actors Guild (GAG).
Christian thansgiving services and Muslim prayers would also be held as parts of National Thansgiving for the nation.

An anniversary parade by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), security services and school children would come off at the Black Star Square on March 6, would be held at the Independence Square to climax the celebrations.

The Minister of Information, Mr Mahama Ayariga, who launched the celebration, said the theme reflected the changing innovation that the nation had gone through.

“It is my considered opinion that the theme reflects the need for partnership in nation development as espoused by President Mahama in his inaugural address”, Mr Ayariga said.

He challenged Ghanaians to use this year’s celebration as a period of reflection and reconciliation, as they made strides in developmental gains.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Sat, Feb 16, 2013

‘Absence of Petroleum Exploration Law will not affect oil benefits’

The Petroleum Commission (PC) has denied that the absence of a new Petroleum Exploration Law, three years into oil production in the country, will deprive Ghanaians the benefits of petroleum resources. 

According to the commission, petroleum agreements were negotiated taking into consideration clear benefits to be derived by the state and the citizenry from petroleum resources.  

The Coordinator of Local Content at the PC, Dr Juliette Twumasi-Anokye, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the model agreement for negotiations in the petroleum sector had stringent clauses which clearly specified such resources as the property of Ghana. 

In an interview on the sidelines of a press conference to launch the 2013 edition of the Offshore West Africa Oil and Gas exhibition, Dr Twumasi-Anokye said the delay in passing the law was to ensure the availability of adequate provisions that would lend credence to the benefits Ghanaians ought to derive from oil exploration and production activities.

The three-day conference and exhibition, to be held from March 19-21, 2013 on the theme: “Exploring the dynamics of West Africa offshore”, is expected to provide a platform for stakeholders to share ideas and learn from experts on the latest technology and solutions relating to offshore exploration.

The event, to be hosted by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), with sponsorship from Tullow Oil, among other stakeholders, will combine a high- class conference to demonstrate newer technologies in the exploration and production of oil.

The draft copy of the new law, which is meant to replace the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Exploration and Production Law, PNDC Law 84 of 1983, is yet to be finalised by the Attorney-General’s Department.

This has led to civil society organisations and other stakeholders raising concerns and urging the government to ensure coherence in the passage of the law to take cognisance of the challenges in the sector.

Dr Twumasi-Anokye said the PC had, since 2012, been reviewing the quarterly local content plan of the operators in the sector to ensure that their procurement, employment and succession plans were in conformity with regulations stipulated by the PC.

“We do these things to guarantee fairness as part of measures employed to ensure that incumbent contractors are not used in line with the PC’s succession plan provisions,” she said.

She further indicated that since the PC’s role was underpinned on provisions that would go to firm up local content provision in the upstream sector, officials were eager to put in place the Legislative Instrument (LI) to further strengthen the local content regime.

“We expect that  the Attorney-General’s Department will forward the LI which will replace the existing regulations of 1984 to Parliament for consideration and passage in the ensuing weeks,” she said.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Fri, Feb 15, 2013 

Gas company to respond to misappropraition queries

THE Ghana National Gas Company (GNCG) is finalising its 2012 accounts to appropriately answer queries raised by the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) on the issue of misappropriation of GH¢20 million of the company’s operational capital.

The PIAC, in January this year, raised concerns over the GNCG’s inability to account for GH¢20 million of its operational funds released to it by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

The PIAC had, in a letter to the GNCG, requested the company to account for the said amount for publication in its report.

In his response to a questionnaire submitted by the Daily Graphic on the concerns raised by the PIAC, the Head of Corporate Communications at the GNCG, Mr Guure Brown Guure, said the company’s statutory accounts covering the period from January 1 to December 31, 2012 were being finalised for its officials to respond to the issues raised by the PIAC.

According to him, as a result of an administrative lapse, the letter from the PIAC requesting the GNCG to report on the said amount did not get to the appropriate desk.

“We have since traced the request and apologised accordingly to the PIAC, as well as assured it of our preparedness to share our audited accounts with it once the accounts are ready,” Mr Guure said, adding, “The GNCG is, therefore, not able to account for the GH¢20 million capitalisation amount now.”

He said contrary to claims that the amount had been misappropriated, the GNCG had used it to finance the conduct of aerial topographic and geographical studies necessary to map out the general construction area, as well as examine the dynamics of the terrain.

The two studies, he said, encompassed the onshore natural gas pipeline system area made up of a 111-kilometre main pipeline from Atuabo to Ntwaaban and a 75- kilometre lateral pipeline area from Essiama to Prestea.

Mr Guure said the environmental and social impact assessment of the gas processing plant to determine its long-term viability and assess potential risks and impact on the environment and communities in and around the project area to determine the relevant mitigating measures had to be integrated to eliminate such factors.

“Part of the money also went into the funding of construction enabling works along major bridges linking the project site to reinforce the structures to enable line pipes and other heavy equipment to be transported across,” he said.

Asked why the project continued to delay, he stated that some social, environmental and financial reasons, including issues with deities (smaller gods) at the project site, and procedural challenges in advance payments due Sinopec, the main contractor, had accounted for the delay of the project.

“These challenges have so far been resolved and the project is progressing in earnest,” Mr Guure said, adding, “Ghana Gas is, therefore, confident that with the current pace of progress, the project should be completed by the third quarter of this year.”

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Thur, Feb 14, 2013

Ghana’s Energy Ministry - Which direction ?

Energy Minister, Kofi Armah Buah

OVER the past few decades, successive governments have tried to improve the country’s energy sector. 

Millions of cedis have been spent, but little has been achieved.

The problems we face today are testimonies of the inadequacy of legislation and policies and these are the strongest possible signals that Ghana needs to adopt a radical approach to find solutions for the problems in the energy sector.

While admitting that the high capital intensive nature of the sector has contributed to the minimal growth, public sector funding has been inadequate for the maintenance of current systems and the development of new energy sources.

For instance, while infrastructure on electricity generation continues to be dependent on thermal power generation, activities in the petroleum sector are being hampered by the absence of legislation.

The new Petroleum Exploration Law to replace the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Exploration and Production Law, PNDC Law 84 of 1983 is yet to be put in place to take cognisance of current activities, three years into production.

According to Dr Steve Manteaw of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), while the necessary infrastructure for gas harvesting are still not available, the delay in putting in place the necessary legislation for an effective handling of the sector might end up short-changing the citizenry.

Tema Oil Refinery’s (TOR) role in the economy in the last four years can be described as unsatisfactory, due to the company’s increasing operational cost, making it less competitive.

Many are of the view that while TOR has over the years become a dumping ground for political foot-soldiers and activists, pilfering, stealing and inefficiency can also not be ruled out.

In the view of Dr Manteaw, the refinery’s existence is vital and bottlenecks must be addressed.

While government in December 2012 released $30 million to TOR towards its plant stabilisation process, the challenges facing the refinery may require a capital injection of over $500 million, following the long neglect over the last four years by the sole shareholder.

The capital injection can allow for plant configuration as cost cutting measures, since TOR currently processes Sweet Light Crude oil, which is one of the expensive crudes on the market.

Such measures would require the need to put in place desalters to remove salt and sulphur from the crude oil before processing.

In doing so, Isomerisation and Alkylation plants also need to be considered to improve on the company’s heavy naphtha feed to produce high octane gasoline and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

One other challenge, which is an albatross around the neck of TOR for the last four years, has been its inability to raise letters of credit (LCs) to purchase crude oil.

The period also saw the erratic shutdown of the refinery’s Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) and Crude Distillation  Units (CDU).

An LC waiver regime that existed between 2001-2008 was withdrawn because of government’s attempts to turn TOR into a tolling facility, while the government hid under the cloak of the infamous TOR debt.

Can government alone take the blame? How about the refinery’s management’s inability to ensure profitability?

Do managers see the need to have in place a proper trading desk where they could monitor and predict the prices of petroleum products within the various trading windows?

With the Ministry of Energy being reviewed to have petroleum as a major component, what defining role will TOR play in this venture?

Will the incoming Minister, Mr Kofi-Armah Buah, who had previously supervised the petroleum sector at the same ministry extend the needed assistance to TOR’s profitability to ensure its competitiveness?

How about processing the Jubilee crude oil, which experts say has the same properties of Bonny or Brent?
President John Mahama on December 4, 2012 promised that his government would put the necessary measures in place to enable TOR operate at full capacity.

Perhaps, government’s decision to release the paltry $30 million could be a result of the President’s campaign promise which came back haunting officials who were variously accused by Ghanaians of attempting to rundown TOR so it could be disposed off.

Beyond the lip service, will the refocussed Ministry of Energy and Petroleum strengthen the energy sector regulation to reflect the market prices being paid by consumers of energy commodities?

What about legislation and legal frameworks that industry players and the general public have been crying for?

With load shedding on the increase and the Bui Dam Project (designed to generate some 400 megawatts of power to augment the country's debilitating energy shortfall) at a standstill, will the Ghanaian consumer see light at the end of the tunnel?

Mr Kofi-Armah Buah, the ball is in your court.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Wed, Feb 13, 2013

Containers with siezed scrap metals found empty

THIRTY-ONE containers of ferrous scrap metals impounded by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in March 2012 from being exported illegally have been emptied from the warehouses holding the containers.

The consignments were intercepted in compliance with an administrative ban by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2004.

The containers, which were kept under seal on the premises of Everest Limited and Star Limited, both scrap yards in the Tema Heavy Industrial Area, were virtually found empty when Customs officials in the company of members of the Ghana Steel Manufacturers Association went to inspect the consignments last Thursday.

The consignments were auctioned early this year on behalf of the government by the Tema Sector of the Customs Division of the GRA and procured by Special Steel Limited.

Officials of Special Steel and Customs who, on Thursday, visited the two warehouses to inspect the consignments, were, however, left in disbelief as, although the seals on the containers were intact, the containers were virtually empty when they were opened.

A member of the group who spoke to the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity expressed shock at the turn of events and called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, institute investigations into the incident.

Officials of the Tema Command of the Customs Division who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic said the supervising officers of the containers had been tasked to submit a report on the incident.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the command, Ms Nunya Amedonu, the original seal had been confirmed to be intact at the time of the visit on Thursday, with no evidence of tampering.

“The officers who auctioned the containers have been tasked to present a report to the Sector Commander to allow for thorough investigations into the incident,” Ms Amedonu said.

The increasing demand for the exportation of ferrous scrap metals has seen the disruption of underground communication infrastructure and theft of cables (copper wires) in major cities across the country.

While the souring price of the commodity on the world market continues to entice local exporters to engage in the illegality, local steel companies whose production output depends heavily on these raw materials are faced with eminent closure.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry, stunned by the continued exportation, recently directed companies or persons intending to export copper scrap metals from the country to seek clearance from Office of the National Security Coordinator.

However, the absence of a legislative instrument to back the administrative ban on the export continues to spur on the people engaged in the scrap export business.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Tue, Feb 12, 2013