Minister of Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah has said cabinet has approved the gas master plan aimed at guiding the country’s gas industry.
“I am happy to announce that cabinet last week gave approval for the Gas Master Plan; a plan which we have been working on for some time now.
“The plan contains projections of the country’s demand and supply as well as the infrastructure requirements needed to realize these projections,” said Mr. Buah at the commissioning of the Western Regional office of the Petroleum Commission in Takoradi.
The approval pave way for the ministry to develop a Gas Policy and Gas Act that will provide a transparent regulatory framework for the industry.
The gas sector regulations are expected to help address infrastructure and funding issues, institutional mandates for gas sector agencies, as well as to provide a revised gas pricing policy that will reflect the country’s “developmental priorities”.
Gas is increasingly becoming a major focus of government, given its significance in the generation of power. Having effectively exhausted its hydroelectric potential the country is increasingly moving toward thermal power generation, for which a lot of gas is required.
Mr. Buah was optimistic that the plan will put Ghana back on the road to industrialisation.
“We believe we are on the right track in using gas not only to power our thermal plants, but ultimately to create the quantum leap in industrialization and create jobs that have eluded us for so long”.
The plan he said, will be followed by a Gas Policy and a Gas Act to usher Ghana into production of indigenous gas.
Preparations towards oil and gas exploration in the Voltaian Basin has gathered momentum as series of stakeholders’ forums to comprehensively address all environmental concerns are held.