Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has asked decision and policy makers in Africa’s energy sector to harness the natural gas resource in their various countries for the benefit of their people.

Dr. Prempeh made this call when he joined other Energy Ministers on the continent virtually for the launch of a policy brief on natural gas in the African Energy landscape on Monday, 19 October 2021 under the auspices of the African Energy Commission.

He said the use of natural gas presents a significant opportunity for Africa to bridge the poverty gap by leveraging on its abundance on the continent, as well as its low cost and efficiency relative to other fossil sources.

He also indicated that Ghana’s Gas Master Plan recognises the power sector as the most important sector to channel the country’s natural gas resources as currently over 70 % of the fuel requirement for power generation is met by natural gas

“As the world moves towards creating universal access to electricity as well as transitioning from carbon-intensive energy sources to low carbon sources, natural gas presents itself as the fuel of choice. In Ghana for example, investments made between 2019 and 2020 alone will contribute to CO2 emission reductions of about 11,000,000 metric tons in the next decade,” he said.

He continued, “recognising the fact that natural gas is instrumental to the growth of the Ghanaian economy as well as those of our sister countries, Ghana is positioning itself to be the hub of natural gas supply in the West African Sub-Region”

“Our Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal located in Tema, has the potential to supply up to 400 MMscfd of gas, which is enough to meet our domestic requirement as well supply to other neighbouring countries in the sub-region,” he stressed.

The natural gas in the African Energy Landscape is the first-in-series of policy briefs that will be produced this year to shed light on the energy situation of Africa, using data collected by AFREC from the AU Member States.

The policy briefs aim to enhance understanding on specific fuels, their production processes, trade and use while serving as a framework instrument to policy makers across all African countries.