Accra, March 29, GNA - Shell Ghana Limited has launched a new unleaded petrol called "Shell V-Power" produced with the aim to improve vehicle engine life and to maximize performance.

The revolutionary new unleaded fuel product, designed by the company's leading scientists, is an advanced 95 octane petrol which can help give more power than lower octane petrol currently available in Ghana as well as reducing environmental pollution.

Ghana is the second African country after South Africa where the V-Power had been launched, to satisfy the increasing demand by customers of the leading retailer for a more efficient fuel.

Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Harbours and Railways who launched the product on behalf of the Vice President on Tuesday said the days were long gone when the fuel market was a static one.

"And we are all part of a fuel market that is changing, and changing very fast to keep pace with the trends of economic development of our times. Needless to say most modern vehicles are relatively sophisticated, technologically advanced, complex and powerful."

Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said government was happy to note that Shell Ghana Limited, coming from a heritage of service excellence and technological advancement had been providing valuable services to motorists for over 75 years.

"As trailblazers in the search for more efficient, powerful and environmentally friendly fuels, we welcome this innovation by Shell Ghana ltd, and encourage all and sundry to aspire to the same ideals that would carry us forward in a sustainable manner in the future." He said one of the keys to socio-economic development of a country was the provision of an efficient and effective transportation system, to effectively mobilize and facilitate the industrial growth of the economy while reducing environmental pollution.

Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said so far about 14 Development Partners were partnering with the government to implement a Road Sector Development Programme which commenced in 2002 and would end in December 2007 with a total investment outlay of 1.2 billion US dollars. He said a key plank of government's Energy Policy was to deregulate the oil industry to liberalize prices and increase private sector entry into the petroleum industry for enhanced competitive marketing and pricing of petroleum products at the pump.

Mr Daniel Ahene Nunoo, Managing Director of Shell Ghana Ltd. said the product was sold over 40 countries around the world and its quality had been guaranteed with certainty.

He said users of the Shell V-Power enjoyed powerful detergent additive that removed harmful deposits and anticorrosion additive to protect metallic engine parts from rust, highly sourced on the international market.

Already the Ghana Standards Board had inspected and approved the product stored at Shell's facility in Lome, Togo where it is transported to Ghana.

He said an initial 23 stations in Accra, Tema and Kumasi were being kitted to provide Shell V-Power to customers and a nationwide roll out plan was expected to follow thereafter.

Dr Andreas Schaefer, a representative of Shell Global Solutions Germany, said the formulation had been developed together with Shell scientists, who had developed fuels for the award winning Ferrari Formula One racing team for over 50 years.

He said the pricing of V-Power would be in tandem with the movement of world oil prices as well as the liberalization of the Ghanaian fuel market.

Mr John Attefuah, Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) said the innovation by Shell was a major step to enhance the deregulation process and would provide a much better product to ensure that the petroleum market was not one sided. He said the NPA would ensure that Shell delivered as promised and maintained the quality of the product for maximum customer satisfaction.

29 March 07