The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has apologized for the erratic supply of power to Ghanaians.
According to the ministry, the load management exercise is as a result of the low levels of gas supply from Nigeria, which has resulted in the inability to power the various thermal power plants to full capacity.
The president has therefore sent the Minister for Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah to Nigeria to discuss with the Nigerian team how to increase the current levels of thirty million standard cubic feet of gas supply to the contractual volumes of one hundred and twenty million standard cubic feet per day.
The Minister, who is being accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority, Mr. Isaac Kirk Koffie will meet with the Minister for Petroleum of the Republic of Nigeria, officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell and Chevron who together form N-Gas and who are the suppliers of the natural gas to Ghana.
The Minister will also consult with officials of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company and the West Africa Gas Pipeline Authority. The Minister is expected back on Tuesday, March 18, 2014.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, Communications Consultant for the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawah explained that “low pressures from Nigeria in terms of Gas supply’’ have resulted in most of the generation plants not able to run at full capacity, hence the need for the Minister to travel to Nigeria to talk to the parties involved in the supply of gas to Ghana.
Mr Bawah also said the Ministry is worried about the volume of gas that Ghana receives from the West African Gas Pipeline. “To a very large extent government of Ghana has been consistently been worried about the volumes that we get looking at the agreement that was signed; there is a minimum volume of gas that we are supposed to receive,i.e120 million, hardly do we ever get there and this has been a concern for us…’’
The Electricity Company of Ghana has announced a load-shedding program which is expected to start this week. However, even before the announcement, many parts of the country have been undergoing power outages which has outraged Ghanaians.
President Mahama on Monday once again appealed for patience while his government works to resolve the power crisis.
By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana