PIAC backs using local salt to feed oil industry

Oil-producing companies (OICs) in the country import salt, one of the key products in the production of oil, from other countries, a situation the Technical Director of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Mark Agyemang, said can be resolved if the Songhor Salt Project is revived fully.

He said the salt is mostly imported from Senegal, while Ghana has the capacity to produce it locally.

“I know the government has been working to revive the Songhor Salt Project. That will go a long way to boost oil production in the country,” he told the Business24 on the sidelines of the launch of PIAC’s semi-annual report for 2020.

Songhor has about 34,775 acres of lagoon basin on the Atlantic Coast of Ghana, with the greatest potential for large-scale salt production in West Africa for export and industrial use.

Though Mr. Agyemang was not able to quantify the amount of money that the OICs spend on importing salt into the country annually, it is thought that these companies spend millions of dollars importing the commodity.

Last year, Parliament approved three mining lease agreements granting mineral rights to an investor, Electrochem Ghana Limited, to dig for, mine and produce salt at Ada Songhor area in the Greater Accra Region.

The project, with a production capacity of over 200,000 tonnes, is expected not only to create employment for the people in the area but also to feed the petroleum industry with raw material for oil production.

In July 2007, Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy discovered oil in commercial quantities in the Western Region, and in 2010, the country lifted its first oil cargo of 1.1m barrels.

In the last 10 years, the country has produced and exported about 420m barrels of oil.