{"id":654211,"date":"2019-07-11T06:53:31","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T06:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n

Vice President Dr
\nMahamudu Bawumia on Wednesday said significant progress has been made towards
\nthe pilot implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model under the National
\nLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Promotion Policy.<\/p>\n

He said the Policy sought to ensure that LPG
\nconsumers have access to safe, efficient, affordable and
\nenvironmentally-friendly LPG for commercial, industrial and domestic use by
\n2030.<\/p>\n

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says
\nthe Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company is producing 37,000 cylinders needed
\nfor the pilot project in October this year, in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region and
\nKwaebibirim in the Denkyemboa District of the Eastern Region.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dr Bawumia assured of government\u2019s
\ncommitment to continue implementing policies and programmes to protect the
\nsafety and interests of Ghanaians.<\/p>\n

Vice President Bawumia announced this at the
\nopening of the third edition of the Ghana International Petroleum Conference
\n(GhipCon) in Accra on Wednesday, held on the theme,\u201d Regional Collaboration: A
\nCatalyst for Transformation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The conference was organised by the Ministry
\nof Energy and National Petroleum Authority in collaboration with the Chamber of
\nBulk Oil Distributors, which attracted petroleum experts, policy-makers,
\nbusiness men and women and captains of industry in the sub-region.<\/p>\n

It is designed to actively bring to the fore
\nthe operating industry\u2019s perspectives and guidance on issues of governmental
\nand regulatory policy as well as best practices for the advancement of the
\npetroleum downstream sector across the West African sub-region.<\/p>\n

It will also afford stakeholders in the
\npetroleum downstream industry in West African sub-region, to harmonise their
\npolicies and explore opportunities to allow the industry to respond to global
\ndevelopment and trends consistent with member countries\u2019 interests and aid in
\ntheir economic transformation.<\/p>\n

Some topics outlined for discussion include;
\nUnlocking West Africa\u2019s Deregulatory Inertia, Making West Africa\u2019s Refineries
\nWork, Ghana\u2019s Cylinder Recirculation Model, Harmonising Sub-regional Petroleum
\nProducts Specifications and Challenges of Regional Distribution of Petroleum
\nProducts.<\/p>\n

The Vice President said government was in
\nthe process of ensuring institutional and regulatory re-alignment of the
\nmidstream gas sub-sector to bring clarity and a degree of certainty to players
\nin the industry.<\/p>\n

In that regard, he said, the Energy Minister
\nwould soon finalise re-alignment and commence legislative consolidation of the
\nGas Master Plan into a Gas Act, which was an important requirement for
\ndevelopment of Ghana into a petrochemical hub in the West African sub-region.<\/p>\n

He said the proposed Gas Act would provide
\nan enabling environment and appropriate incentives for investors and assured of
\ngovernment\u2019s resolve to make the security of gas supply as feedstock for
\npetrochemical plans a priority.<\/p>\n

He said procurement of natural gas from
\ndomestic sources had been secured under regulation governing domestic supply
\nobligation of upstream gas producers.<\/p>\n

He, therefore, urged investors to take
\nadvantage of the favourable petroleum market environment in Ghana to invest in
\ninfrastructure such as oil jetties, pipelines and distribution facilities, as
\nwell as refineries, gas processing plants and storage and loading gantries.<\/p>\n

Following the deregulation of the petroleum
\ndownstream sector in Ghana, Dr Bawumia said the sector had witnessed
\nsignificant investment and expansion of petroleum products and outlets
\nfacilities.<\/p>\n

He gave the assurance that government would
\ncontinue to create an enabling environment for petroleum downstream sector to
\nthrive competitively, efficiently and with the highest safety standards.<\/p>\n

He said the investment had been championed
\nby the private sector with growing number of indigenous Ghanaian companies,
\ngiven rise to new entrants licensed to operate as petroleum service providers
\nwith over 250 licensed operators across the value chain and more than 15
\nlicensed categories providing support services.<\/p>\n

Over the past eight years, he said bulk
\ndistribution companies had grown from eight to 35, with oil marketing companies
\n(OMCs) increased from 81 to 115 and 19 companies currently providing support
\nservices in areas like tank calibration, underground storage and above storage
\ncleaning and\u00a0 non-destructive testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a country, our vision for the petroleum
\ndownstream industry is to ensure that Ghana becomes a key player in the
\ndownstream petroleum industry in the West African sub-region.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this end, government is also working on
\nPetroleum Transportation Infrastructure Master Plan aimed at enhancing the pace
\nof infrastructure sourcing with a regional context in mind,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Vice President Bawumia said the Plan would
\nfacilitate the demand of an alternative transportation infrastructure for
\npetroleum products such as railway lines, pipelines and river badges to major
\ndemand centres across the country and link the sub-regional markets to further
\ndeepen the regional integration agenda.<\/p>\n

Source: GNA<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n