The Ghana National Gas Company Limited has averred that liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant is produced from the rich and sweet feedstock with negligible amounts of undesirable compounds.
The Company maintained that as the leading producer and marketer of domestic LPG, “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”.
Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) Duncan Amoah in an interview with TV3 raised red flags over the quality of LPG being supplied from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.
According to Mr. Amoah, the recent products from the gas processing plant have been contaminated, a situation he fears could cause explosion if not checked.
But a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana Gas Company Limited, Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah Bonsu, and copied to 3news.com described the assertion by the Executive Director of COPEC as misleading and mischievous.
“Mr. Duncan Amoah asserted that the Atuabo LPG is quite high in Propane without providing a standard measure of ‘high’,” the statement noted.
It insisted that 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).
“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 indicated 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, which is also the guideline for the commodity portion of imported LPG, stressing that the non-commodity charges are outside the domain of Ghana Gas.
The statement added that Ghana Gas is mindful of its strategic role and the impact of its action on the downstream LPG market therefore, 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 decided not to add premium on the benchmark FOB price”.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|3news.com|Ghana