West African Gas Pipeline key to energy security — Tsatsu Tsikata
The Chairman of the West Africa Gas Summit, Tsatsu Tsikata, has urged Ghana and its neighbours to address payment and supply challenges associated with the West African Gas pipeline to sustain the co-operation among member countries.
That, he said, was because the pipeline remained a proud example of regional energy integration and a sustainable energy that must be enhanced.
“There is no reason why payment for gas from Nigeria should not be as secure as payment for gas supplied by ENI under a partial risk guarantee arrangement with the World Bank.
There’s absolutely no reason why the same security of payment should not be used when it comes to gas from Nigeria,” Mr Tsikata said.
Regional collaboration
Speaking at the opening of a three-day summit in Accra last Tuesday, he reiterated that regional collaboration in gas development was “a necessary outlook,” given the rising power needs from mineral processing of gold, lithium, aluminium, bauxite and modern technologies.
Present at the summit were policymakers, regulators, investors, financiers, industry leaders and regional institutions.
Mr Tsikata said it took “a lot of honesty about addressing those problems to make sure that we make regional cooperation effective” and build on it.
Mr Tsikata, who was instrumental in initiating the pipeline project, said the logic was clear from Ghana’s perspective – Nigeria had vast, readily available gas reserves, while Ghana would save time and cost searching for its own.
“There is just no question about Nigeria’s vast reserves, and therefore, the availability of those reserves created an opportunity for Ghana. By creating, or by getting involved in the creation of the pipeline, it was clear to us that access would give Ghana security of energy supply,” he said.
Industrialisation
The Deputy Minister of Energy and Green Transition, Richard Gyan-Mensah, said gas must be leveraged as a tool for industrialisation and socio-economic transformation and not treated as an end in itself.
He said that while progress had been made, the transformative impact aimed for in national growth, infrastructure, energy access, job creation, and better livelihoods had not yet been fully achieved.
Mr Gyan-Mensah said resources alone did not generate prosperity and added that “Prosperity happens when resources are backed by sound policy, good infrastructure, strong institutions, and effective partnerships.”
He said governments needed to create an environment that built investment confidence and ensured benefits got to the people.
According to the Deputy Energy Minister, gas supply through the West African Gas Pipeline had supported the power sector and broader economy for years — “a prime example of how regional integration creates shared value.”
Mr Gyan-Mensah added that domestic discoveries led by partners, including Tullow Oil, Kosmos Energy, ENI and GNPC, had transformed the energy landscape.
Summit
For his part, the Executive Secretary of the Gas Consortium, Senam Kodzo Gbeho, said West Africa needed its own platform for “candid, practical conversations” on regional gas development, and that the West Africa Gas Summit delivered that.
“What matters is that West Africa needs its own platform for candid, practical conversations about regional gas development, and you have helped make that platform a reality,” he told delegates.
