Ghana is great for investments in power – Mould

Ghana offers a stable and predictable environment for private power investments to expand its generation capacity, Mr Alexander Kofi-Mensah Mould, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has said.

He said energy had become a national priority after the recent power challenges led to persistent power outages that hindered economic development.

“GNPC stands ready and willing to engage with and partner investors in exploring opportunities in the sector,” Mr Mould stated in a speech read on his behalf in Accra at the Seventh Annual Ghana Summit on Oil and Gas.

Mr Michael Aryeetey, the Chief Operating Officer of GNPC’s Exploration and Production Company Limited (Explorco), read the speech.

The two-day Summit on the theme, “Driving Ghana’s Oil, Gas and Power Potential”, was organised by the CWC Group and the GNPC, with other stakeholders.

It was meant to provide the stakeholders the platform to discuss strategies to maximise Ghana’s Oil, Gas and Power potentials.

Speaking on the topic, “GNPC, The Critical Catalyst for Ghana’s Drive towards Energy Sustainability”, Mr Mould said GNPC was implementing an accelerated growth strategy to enable them to realise their vision to be a leading global oil and gas company whose operations had a profound impact on Ghanaians.

“We shall play our part in ensuring that the entire oil and gas value chain is robust so we are able to monetise our gas domestically to meet the energy needs of the country, and the Sub-region,” he said.

“We will continue to work closely with other stakeholders to deliver a robust and sustainable value chain.”

He said in December 2012, the GNPC established the Explorco, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation.

He said Explorco was a key plank of GNPC’s strategic tool to achieve rapid capacity building and technology transfer to enable the attainment of the Corporation’s goal of becoming a world-class operator in 15 years.

“Going forward, through Explorco, GNPC’s global operating capacity will be developed through the framework of Joint Operating Companies (JOCs) in strategic alliance with world-class operators,” he said.

“These vehicles will develop the requisite policies, systems and procedures of the organisation and in tandem develop the capabilities of our people under different operating contexts.

“This way, we will acquire not only skilled individuals as we did in the past but the entire functional systems,” he said.

Mr Mould explained that GNPC’s personnel would grow within and eventually take over the operational and corporate management of JOCs in planned phases.

“The transfer of such entities to Explorco over a reasonable period and their reintegration will enable the evolution of the strong systems, culture and brand that will make the Explorco an efficient and dependable operator,” he said.

Mr Mould said GNPC had been appointed gas sector aggregator and also given the oversight responsibility over the Ghana National Gas Company Limited.

“Our emerging role in the gas market herald’s development of local gas market, with the potential to evolve into a regional hub,” he said.

The GNPC and Quantum Power, the pan-African energy infrastructure investment platform, early this year announced an agreement on Heads of Terms for the construction and operation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage, re-gasification and delivery facilities at Tema; and the construction was expected to commence before the end of this year, he said.

Mr Mould said the Tema LNG Project, comprising a capital outlay of over $ 550 million, would be implemented on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis with the assets transferring to GNPC after the Project’s 20-year term.

“Importing LNG is necessary to complement security of gas supply in Ghana,” he said.