The Ghana National Gas Company Limited has dismissed claims made by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) that it is selling contaminated Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to consumers in the market.
They argue that LPG from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant is produced from the rich and sweet feedstock with negligible amounts of undesirable compounds.
“Ghana Gas ensures that the quality of LPG and the standards for the quality determination of LPG are in alignment with both local and international standards”.
COPEC claims
Earlier, the Executive Director of COPEC Duncan Amoah in an interview with the media raised concerns over the quality of LPG that is being supplied from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.
He alleged that LPG products from the gas processing plant is contaminated, adding that the situation could cause explosion if not checked.
However, the Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana Gas Company Limited, Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah Bonsu, in an interview on the ‘Business Live’ show on the Joy News channel, yesterday, May 22, 2020, debunked COPEC’s claims.
Even before the Interview, Mr Bempa had earlier issued a statement in which he described Mr Amoah’s concerns as “misleading and mischievous”.
Highest LPG quality
He said the average vapour pressure of Ghana Gas Company’s LPG over the last six months is 7.46kg/cm2, which is well below the 9.5kg/cm2 required by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA).
In the Press statement, Ghana Gas wrote that “It is instructive to note that the lower vapour pressure reflects a stable product with low volatility. We have consistently marketed LPG of exceptional performance and of the highest quality whilst ensuring that the Propane content are always within the acceptable specifications of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) requirements.”
It further indicated LPG rom Atuabo is one of the cheapest in the market, adding that the pricing mechanism for LPG produced by Ghana Gas at Atuabo is derived from NPA’s bi-weekly market-driven Argus Butane ARA/UK large cargo price index.
He again, added the the NPA bi-weekly index is also the guideline for the commodity portion of imported LPG, stressing that the non-commodity charges are outside the domain of Ghana Gas.
Therefore, portions of the statement read “the management of Ghana Gas, as a matter of responsiveness decided not to add premium on the benchmark FOB price”.
By Salifu B.B. Moro
