Energy Minister woos foreign investors for energy sector

The Minister of Energy, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has urged foreign investors to consider investing in the country’s energy sector to ensure sustainable power supply.

Dr Opoku Prempeh also urged energy business leaders and decision makers to see Ghana’s energy sector a friend and a partner.

Speaking at Energy Investment Forum organized by the Ministry of Energy on the sidelines of EXPO 2020 in Dubai, UAE, the Minister said Ghana’s energy sector is awash with a plethora of opportunities which could be the basis for mutually beneficial partnerships.

He pointed out that, in Ghana, exploration and production licences are awarded through open, transparent and competitive public tender processes.

The Minister added that exploration and production licences may be awarded through direct negotiations without public tender if direct negotiations represent the most efficient manner to achieve optimal exploration, development and production of petroleum resources in a defined area.

“There are also farm-in opportunities in some of the existing licences for prospective investors to operate through existing Petroleum Agreements without having to go through block application and negotiation processes” he said

Ghana’s sedimentary basins, according to the Minister, are de-risked and highly prospective, and the petroleum industry is regulated by clear, predictable and suitable fiscal, legal and regulatory regimes.

Petroleum hub

In the downstream petroleum sector, Dr. Prempeh said, Ghana aspires to become a hub for refined petroleum products in the West African sub-region and beyond, hence the establishment of the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC).

He said the hub will host infrastructure such as refineries, port terminal facilities, storage facilities, petrochemical plants as well as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals with a network of pipelines.

Touching on the power sector, the Minister said the generation, transmission and distribution value chain presents opportunities to the private sector. “Our quest to promote energy efficiency in electrical appliances, among others, within the context of scaling up ten percent renewable energy penetration by 2030 brings key opportunities for strategic investor partnership,” he stressed.

Through info-documentaries and presentations, the ministry’s agencies also explained the current projects in their sectors that need financing and strategic partnerships.

The Minister assured prospective investors to Ghana of robust legal and regulatory framework anchored on the respect for the rule of law and the high regard for democratic accountability.