The Mines and Energy Committee did not address the issues raised against the deal between the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC)and the Genser Company Limited for the combined gas and pipeline infrastructural project, Executive Director of the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) Benjamin Boakye has said.
The Committee had indicated that it found no evidence of any losses from the deal, concluding an investigation into unfounded claims of irregularities.
The investigation was initiated in response to claims made by the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and the IMANI Center for Policy and Education in July 2022, alleging incorrectly that the deal incurred a loss of $1.5 billion for the nation. The Committee’s report instead found benefits for Ghana far exceeding that sum.
The ACEP and IMANI reports raised concerns over a Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) between GNPC and Genser Energy Ghana Limited (GEGL), asserting that Ghana stood to lose the “whopping and galactic sum of $1.5 billion” due to this arrangement.
The allegations raised by ACEP and IMANI claimed GNPC sold gas to Genser at significantly reduced rates compared to its purchase price, resulting in a perceived subsidy.
Following an 11-month-long investigation, the Parliamentary Committee has refuted the claims made by ACEP and IMANI, stating that the GSA is not a “sweetheart contract.”
The Committee found the computation methods used by ACEP and IMANI faulty. The CSOs calculated a hypothetical loss based on the contractual sum of $2.79/MMBtu. But that price reflects offsets from a capacity charge of $3.29/MMBtu.
The Committee found the arrangement much to the nation’s benefit, presenting 11 key economic advantages associated with the deal ranging from energy security to job creation; from the development of future industries to foreign direct investment.
But speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Wednesday, August 23, Mr Boakye said “[the Committee] did not show how that statement is inaccurate as to why Ghana is not losing 1.5 billion Dollars.
“What they just did was to do some basic arithmetic of the discount to arrive at around $1.4billion and assumed that 1.4 billion is not being lost because GNPC will use the transition line over a 16-year period.
“That of course doesn’t look at the garmont of the issues that we have raised on this very transaction.”