President John Mahama has revealed that Ghana’s ability to withstand global energy shocks, including the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, stems from the country’s strategic shift toward consuming more natural gas than liquid fuels.
Speaking at the Presidential Dialogue with Civil Society Organisations at the Jubilee House, President Mahama explained that since his administration returned to office, significant progress has been made in securing and expanding domestic gas supply from the ENI Sankofa field and the Jubilee Field.
“The current resilience is because we are consuming more gas than fuel,” President Mahama stated.
He disclosed that the World Bank mega guarantee related to the ENI Sankofa project, which had been drawn down to zero, has been rebuilt by the Finance Minister to $500 million – exactly the original guarantee amount.
He emphasized that every unit of gas consumed is paid for, which has encouraged ENI to increase the volume of gas supplied to Ghana.
In a major development, the President announced that an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed with the Jubilee Field partners to invest an additional $2 billion to drill nearly 30 new wells, aimed at increasing gas flow from the field.
However, President Mahama noted a critical infrastructure gap.
“The old gas plant at Atuabo cannot take all those volumes.”
Consequently, he assured that processes are ongoing to establish a second gas train to accept the extra volumes.
“When that is done, it means all our thermal plants will be running on gas,” he said, adding that this would allow Ghana to completely wean itself off liquid fuels and fossil fuels.
Addressing current global tensions, the President drew a direct link between Ghana’s gas investments and national security.
He noted that the war involving Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries.
“Luckily, we have security of gas because it is our own resource,” President Mahama declared.
“That is what has led to our safety in terms of what is happening. It has added to the resilience that we have.”
He further announced that ENI has agreed to invest an additional $1.5 billion, with an MOU expected to be signed within the next two weeks, to drill extra wells in the offshore Cape Three Points area to bring in even more gas.
Looking ahead, President Mahama envisioned that with more than enough gas, Ghana could produce electricity for export to Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries in need of power.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com