The Ghana National Gas Company, GNGC, has debunked claims by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumer, COPEC, that the Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, it supplies is of lower quality.
The Executive Director of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, earlier made the claim, raising a red flag over the quality of liquefied petroleum gas being supplied by Ghana Gas at its Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.
He also alleged that the product from the gas company was contaminated and believed the situation could cause an explosion if not checked.
But a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Communications of the Ghana National Gas Company, Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah Bonsu, says the quality of the company’s LPG and the standards for quality determination of LPG by the company are in alignment with both local and international standards.
“Ghana Gas ensures that the quality of LPG and the standard for quality determination of LPG are in alignment with both Local and International Standards. The average vapour pressure of the Ghana Gas LPG over the last six months is 7.46kg/cm2, which is well below the 9.5kg/cm2 required by the Ghana Standards Authority.”
“LPG produced from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant is from a rich and sweet feedstock with negligible or trace amounts of undesirable compounds,” the statement said.
“We have consistently marketed LPG of exceptional performance and of the highest quality whilst ensuring that the propane content is always within the acceptable specifications of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and National Petroleum Authority (NPA) requirements.”
The statement also explained that LPG was a gas mixture mainly made up of Propane and Butane, adding that, the presence of propane in LPG amongst many other constituents, contributed to the vapour pressure, density and the calorific value.
It said due to the natural odourless and colourless nature of LPG, an odorant was added to it to enable its detection whenever there was a leakage or fugitive emission.
“Thus, an odorant is only added as a safety measure,” it explained.
Why is the price of gas from Ghana Gas’ Atuabo Gas Processing Plant expensive?
Touching on the LPG pricing which COPEC says Ghana Gas’ is more expensive as compared to imported gas, the statement said the mechanism for pricing LPG produced by the Ghana Gas at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant was derived from the National Petroleum Authority‘s bi-weekly market-driven Argus Butane ARA/UK large cargo price index.
This, it said, provided the guideline for the commodity portion of imported LPG, adding that the non-commodity charges were outside the Company’s domain.
“The Bi-Weekly pricing comprises two pricing windows for each month. The first pricing window for any current month references the Argus Butane CIF ARA cargoes price assessment for the period between the 12th and 26th of the previous month.”
“The second pricing window references the Argus Butane CIF ARA cargoes price assessment from 27th of the previous to the 11th of the current month,” it said.
The statement said the company was mindful of its strategic role and impact on the downstream LPG market, adding that, “unlike other suppliers of LPG who add the producer’s premium to the benchmark pricing, the Management of Ghana Gas, as a matter of responsiveness to the Ghanaian consumers, decided not to add a premium on the benchmark FOB price.”
Background
The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, On May 21, 2020, petitioned the Ministry of Energy to address some issues with Liquefied Petroleum Gas, supplied by the Ghana National Gas Company, which was said to have contributed to price hike of the product in some parts of the country. According to COPEC, LPG supplied by Ghana Gas at its Atuabo Gas Processing Plant is more expensive compared to imported LPG.
They also said that despite the price differentials, some Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) are being forced under a policy of zonalisation to buy and sell to consumers.
