Dr. Bawumia : Ghana’s Energy Transition Will Take Decades

The Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, has admitted that it will take a while for Ghanaians to accept the Cylinder Recirculation Model.

Dr. Bawumia says transitioning from the current state of cylinder recirculation needs time to be accepted by all.

Under the Cylinder Recirculation Model, no consumer will own a gas cylinder, but goes for a filled one at the certified points and leaves an empty one for refilling.

The Vice President was speaking at the official opening of the 5th Edition of the Ghana International Petroleum Conference.

“National LPG promotion policies aimed at achieving LPG penetration of 50 percent by 2030 through programs such as the Cylinder Recirculation Module. The transition process is one that will take many decades for it to be achieved. It will involve a series of different trends that will occur simultaneously and affect demand for energy for the downstream that relies on fossil fuels.”

The three-day Conference is being organized by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in collaboration with the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Distributors (CBOD) and under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy.

It highlights the petroleum downstream industry’s perspective and guidance on issues of government policy and regulatory framework and its themed: “Energy Transition in the African Petroleum Downstream Context: Prospects, Challenges and the way Forward”.

“Let me add that Ghana has set a target of 2070 to fully transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. So, even though as a government, we are fully committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, we also have to take steps to accelerate the production and utilization of our oil and gas reserves”, Dr. Bawumia added.