President John Mahama has described the ENI deal as a landmark event in the development of oil and gas in Ghana.

Ghana partnered the Italian power company, ENI, Tuesday for the production of about 180 million cubic feet of gas to augment the production and supply of power in the country.

The gas is expected to add an additional 1100 megawatts of power to the already 1020 megawatts being produced by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

According to President Mahama, a survey done in terms of constraints to the growth of the Ghanaian economy settled on energy as the most binding constraint.

“This is a landmark event in the development in Ghana and also the development of energy and power security for our country,” President Mahama said after the deal was signed Tuesday.

He added: “A survey done on our country in terms of what constrains the growth of our economy settled on energy as the most binding constraint to our economy and I am sure that Ghanaians would empathise with us considering the current load management we are having to go through in respect of power supply. So this should be a bit of a very good news for Ghana going forward”.

President Mahama added that the new deal would help stabilise and ensure that Ghana had sufficient power to keep the economy growing.

The deal between the government of Ghana and the Italian power firm is expected to last between 15 and 20 years.