Ghana, Nigeria reach agreement over gas supply
Indications are that Nigeria Gas (N-Gas) will not disrupt supply of gas to Ghana. At the time of going to press, Daily Graphic gathered from sources in Abuja that an agreement had been reached which Ghana had been charged to respect.
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Details of the agreement, the sources said, would be made public today.
Earlier Thursday, Ghana and Nigeria were locked up in a critical meeting over the decision by N-Gas, operators of the the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), to cut gas supply to Ghana by midnight.
N-Gas had threatened to seal the gas pipeline that supplies gas to thermal plants powered by the Volta River Authority (VRA) over unpaid debts.
The VRA currently owes WAPCo to the tune of $103 million.
Against that backdrop, the management of WAPCo last Wednesday held a news conference to express its concern over the debt and threatened to cut gas supply to the country if the VRA failed to pay up the debt.
To forestall the possibility of plunging the country into total darkness, a high-powered government delegation, led by the Power Minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor, and including the Chief Executive of the VRA, Mr Kirk Kwofie, and other officials, travelled to Nigeria to confer with the management of WAPCo to agree on a payment plan to clear the debt.
Delegation
The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Power, Mr Kwaku Sersah-Johnson, in an interview, said the delegation, sent by President John Mahama, was to negotiate on the payment terms and expressed optimism about the outcome.
He stated that gas supply to Ghana could not be completely cut, for the fact that Ghana currently had a stake in WAPCo by way of shares.
Touching on a back-up plan for Ghana in the event of a gas cut, Mr Sersah-Johnson explained that for now Ghana did not solely rely on gas and that there was enough crude oil available to power the other plants.
Earlier Thursday, it was gathered that not much progress had been made in the meeting between the Power Minister and his delegation and WAPCo, with WAPCo threatening to reduce considerably the amount of gas supply to the country if the debt owed the company was not settled.
Financial guarantee
Meanwhile, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has made available a $100 million financial guarantee in anticipation of the power barges expected from Turkey in November this year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the GNPC, Mr Alex Mould, said ECOBANK was negotiating with the corresponding banks for a confirmation of the guarantee and that terms and conditions were being finalised with the Standard Chartered Bank on the matter.
“GNPC has already put down the fund and the ball is now in the court of the ECG and the corresponding banks,” he said.