The “game changer” for Ghana’s struggling economy will be the competition of the Atuabo gas processing infrastructure, says the President.
Speaking to reporters after a visit to the project site Tuesday, the President said the gas plant, which is 99.8 percent complete would help the country’s “macroeconomic stability in terms of reducing pressure on the foreign exchange reserves.”
President John Mahama said the country will be able keep foreign exchange it expends to buy processed petroleum products from Europe, quoting an annual figure of $500 million.
The gas project when it comes on stream, will produce 107 million standard cubic feet of lean gas, 500 tonnes of LPG, 80 tonnes of pentane and 45 tons of condensates daily.
The President said when the project comes on stream, it would save the country “almost half a billion dollars a year in light crude purchases, and another billion dollars in foreign exchange savings for the purchase of light crude oil, and that is because the VRA [Volta River Authority] will be able to purchase the gas in Cedis.”
“The multiplier effect of [gas] project will be enormous within our economy”, said the President.
The gas project, which has seen umpteenth postponements of date for its coming on stream will facilitate his vision of an increased power generation capacity of 5000 MW, and position the country as a self-sufficient energy producer and net exporter to other countries.
“The important thing about this gas is that it allows us to have energy security in terms of putting in more thermal production, and it fits our programme of turning Ghana into the energy hub of West Africa.
“All the companies that we have signed Memorandum of Understandings with for installation of Independent Power Producers (IPP) thermal plants will feel secure to go ahead because they know that by the time they finish their thermal projects, gas will be available to power those projects,” the President said.
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