Government offered $700 million worth in gas discounts in three years – ACEP

Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye, has asserted that government offered about $700 million worth in gas discounts to power generation firms in the last three years.

According to him, the country is currently faced with a significant outstanding debt of $600 million owed to oil companies for gas produced and used from the Sankofa oil field.

“Ghana has spent over $700 million on gas discounts and yet is unable to pay for gas produced from the Sankofa oil field. Government has an outstanding debt of $600 million because of the discounts it has given in the last three years,”

The ACEP Executive Director made the assertion while speaking during a discussion on the topic; “Unravelling the Facts and Truth Concerning the GNPC/Genser Deal” on the X platform formerly known as Twitter.

Meanwhile, energy think, ACEP and IMANI Africa in September last year began a probe into a sole-sourced contract between Genser Energy Ghana Limited and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

The investigation was aimed at looking into the combined gas and pipeline infrastructure agreement and its benefit to the State and citizens.

The two think tank’s in their combined analysis determined that Genser Energy was poised to receive $1.5 billion in gas discounts (losses) over a 16-year period while utilizing effectively subsidised infrastructure to expand its enclave power projects across the country.

The analysis also revealed that the subsidies granted in the Genser Energy agreement allowed the firm to gain bulk consumers from state entities such as Volta River Authority and the Electricity Company of Ghana.

MA/NOQ