Deputy Minister Of Energy Woos Foreign Investors

Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Deputy Minister of Energy, has invited investors in the African subregion to take advantage of Ghana’s favorable petroleum market environment and invest in it.

He said there are a lot of infrastructures that investors can invest in such as oil jetties, pipelines and distributions, refineries and gas processing plants, storage and loading gantries.

Dr. Amin Adam made this known at a gathering in Lagos, Nigeria, to mark this year’s Oil Trading and Logistic Downstream Week.

“Our unique geographical position, democratic stability and security require that we provide leadership in building an integrated infrastructure to serve the sub-regional petroleum industry.

“The National Petroleum Authority Act, passed in 2005, has also created a reliable legislative and regulatory regime that has delivered for the country a downstream industry, whose contribution to the economy has grown more than four-fold, with private players – both local and international – forming a major part of the industry”, Dr Adam noted.

He said it was government’s vision to ensure that the downstream petroleum industry becomes a Petroleum hub in the sub-region.

“The government of Ghana is currently developing a Downstream Petroleum Infrastructure Masterplan, aimed at enhancing the pace of infrastructure sourcing with a regional context in mind” he added.

Shared Use of Infrastructure

Touching on the need for shared use of infrastructure, the Deputy Minister said Africa has suffered infrastructure deficit ranging from inadequate and deplorable states of infrastructures such as ports, jetties and tank farms which has increased cost of importing products.

He said it was refreshing to note that the $12 billion investment in a 650 thousand barrel per day refinery development in Nigeria could integrate the downstream industries, lower cost of business and reduce the prices of petroleum products across the sub-region.

Sulphur Fuels

Mr. Alhassan Tampuli, Chief Executive Officer of NPA, on his part, said Ghana had commenced the importation of 50ppm sulphur fuels since August, 2017.

He encouraged Nigeria, a significant consumer in the sub-region, to finalize internal discussions and make the move to low sulphur fuels.

This, he said, will ensure that fuels consumed by the sub-region are cleaner and environmentally friendly.

Over 3,000 African elites interested in the downstream oil and gas sector gathered at the event dubbed: ‘Downstream – Renewed Opportunities’.

The event was aimed at providing a platform to promote business, policy, and stakeholders’ relationships in downstream petroleum markets across the continent.

Source: thePublisher