Ghana’s Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, and the CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. K. Sarpong, have saved the country over $1 billion in a new LNG transaction that will allow for the addition of up to 1,000MW to Ghana’s power supply, Ghanaian media reported on September 14, 2017.
The new GNPC LNG deal, involving the world’s largest gas producer, Gazprom, replaces 2 signed competing contracts for the same Tema LNG project, signed by the previous administration, which were both considered over-priced and over-sized for Ghana.
In summary, the TLNG proposal saves GNPC (and the nation for that matter) $100 mln in annual credit exposure and $1.2 bln over the term of the contract.
The GNPC-Gazprom deal has been well-structured to protect the interest of the country.
GNPC has negotiated a unique structure whereby risks and liabilities that would have otherwise been to the account of GNPC (such as under the 3 other proposals) has been absorbed by Gazprom.
The biggest risk to Government on a regasification project is that of terminal failure and GNPC has secured a deal whereby Gazprom takes this risk.
This transaction will lead to the establishment of Gazprom’s 1st physical presence in Africa.
The Gazprom Group has identified other significant energy related opportunities in Ghana where they believe they can add value in terms of the development and commercialisation of the gas sector in Ghana.
Their plan is to use Ghana as a regional hub into West Africa and ensure that Ghana benefits as a result.
As afore-stated, Gazprom is the largest gas producer in the world with annual revenues (in excess of $100 Billion) more than twice the size of the GDP of Ghana.