The second phase of the Aboadze Thermal Plant project begins early next year, the Minister of Energy, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, has announced.

He said the $150 million project, which would be financed by OPIC of USA and International Finance Corporation (IFC), among other international financial institutions, would make the country self sufficient in energy production.

The Energy Minister, who was opening a top management seminar on the petroleum sector on a national development perspective in Accra yesterday, said the IFC had provided $15 million for initial work to begin.

The three-day seminar is being organised by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in collaboration with the Norwegian International Programme for Petroleum Management and Administration (PETRAD).

The minister said the project formed part of measures to ensure that the country became a net exporter of energy as well as help in achieving the $1,000 per capita income in the shortest possible time.

He added that the gas pipeline project from Nigeria, exploration of gas at the Tano Oil fields and the wind-propelled turbines projects, when completed, would provide very cheap source of energy for domestic use and for industry.

Dr Nduom, however, noted that most of the companies that had expressed interest in exploring oil in the country did not have the required expertise as well as the needed capital for the job. He, therefore, called on all stakeholders in the energy sector to redouble their efforts in attracting high calibre investors into the industry to derive the desired results.

A board member of the GNPC, Mr Collins Adugyemfi, said the country spent substantial amount of foreign exchange on the importation of petroleum and its products, while at the same time there had been enormous potential petroleum resources.

He said to realise the huge potential and to develop the industry in Ghana for it to play the required role in national development, there was the need to develop the right policies as well as legal and fiscal framework.

He added that it was in this regard that the GNPC and the Ministry of Energy had embarked on the review of the fiscal and regulatory regimes of the country in order to attract the needed investment into the industry.