The Minority in Parliament is demanding Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko submits to the House details of a possible 15-year Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) agreement yet to be signed with Equatorial Guinea.
Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Adam Mutawakilu insists the deal is an international agreement that must have ratification by the House.
Quoting a recent Supreme Court case involving Martin Amidu and Woyome on one hand verses Waterville and Isofoton case and other cases in which the apex court nullified the transactions because they did not have parliamentary ratification, Mutawakilu said it will be in the best interest of the country for the Minister to bring the details of the gas agreement with Equatorial Guinea to Parliament.
Early this week, the Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko announced an MOU had been signed with Equatorial Guinea for the supply of LNG.
The MoU will see the Central African country supply the equivalent of 150 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day to Ghana.
The agreement also provides for the building and operation of an LNG regasification terminal in Takoradi in the Western Region.
The agreement follows a recent visit to Equatorial Guinea by Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Even before the agreement will be consummated, the Minority says Parliament must not be ignored in the agreement.
“It is an international transaction and per the Supreme Court ruling it should be brought to Parliament for ratification.
“In that we will be able to know the terms and conditions of the agreement” he said.
He also raised issues about quality of the gas supply from Equatorial Guinea and the regasification processes the government is putting in place.
“LNG supply is not like lean gas from Nigeria where it goes straight away into the generating plant. In LNG you look at transportation and the regasification unit.
“We want to find out from the Minister whether already we have a regasification unit whereby come December we will be able to regasificate the gas and supply it to the needed plant for power generation,” he said.
If the Equatorial Gas agreement is signed and ratified it will be an end to an earlier agreement signed between Ghana and Nigeria for the supply of gas through the West Africa Gas Pipeline project.
West Africa Gas Pipeline
With LNG relatively more expensive than the gas supplied from Nigeria, Mutawakilu is raising concerns about the overall price the LNG gas will have on the supply of power.
He said the Minister must begin to provide details about the pricing policy with the LNG now in the equation.
Source:Myjoyonline