Ghana to stop buying liquid fuels for power generation next year

Ghana expects to stop procuring liquid fuels for power generation next year, the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Mr John Jinapor, has said.

Speaking at a Gas Exporting Countries Forum-hosted strategic session at African Energy Week 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa, the Minister said Ghana had already cut its liquid fuel purchases for electricity from eight cargoes to two as domestic gas and imports from Nigeria replace diesel and heavy fuel oil in thermal plants.

Ghana’s gas policy prioritises domestic processing, with gas directed first to power generation and then to industry, Mr Jinapor said. The switch from liquid fuels saved Ghana about US$500 million in a single year through import substitution, at a time when electricity demand is growing about 10 per cent annually.

Nigeria supplies Ghana through the West African Gas Pipeline, and the Minister said Ghana expects to double those volumes under its current agreements. Ghana is also building a 278-kilometre pipeline to link its main power centres and is using a levy on pump fuel to fund LPG adoption, targeting 50 per cent penetration within three years.

Senegal, which began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2025, is working to balance exports with supply to its own economy. The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr El Hadji Abdourahmane Diouf, said companies often prioritise export markets, leaving governments to secure domestic supply.

Senegal is targeting domestic gas supply of around 150 million standard cubic feet per day by 2030, delivered through a national gas network to power plants across the country. Mr Diouf said the network’s pipeline, which has faced delays, is expected within nine months.

The Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, Mr Philip Mshelbila, described the choice between exports and domestic use as a false choice. “Exports mobilize capital, revenue and investment confidence. Domestic utilization is the development multiplier,” he said.

The Forum’s Global Gas Outlook projects African gas demand will more than double, from 175 billion cubic metres in 2024 to about 374 billion cubic metres by 2055.

The panel moderator, Mr Oliver Onyekweli, a Partner at McKinsey and Company, noted that only around three per cent of gas commercialised in Africa is traded within the continent. Mr Mshelbila said regional cooperation, gas storage and cross-border infrastructure would determine how resilient African markets are to future supply disruptions. He cited the Senegal-Mauritania Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project as a model.

The Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, Mr NJ Ayuk, described gas as a Swiss knife for African development, with uses spanning power generation, petrochemicals and fertilisers. “We are a gas continent before an oil continent,” he said.

Ghana’s gas master plan, currently under review, sets a 15-year blueprint for the country’s gas infrastructure and budgeting.