Nigeria, Ghana in settlement deal

The Federal Government has disclosed how Ghana will settle the outstanding $171.5m (N33.79bn) debt owed by its Volta River Authority for gas supplied for power generation by a Nigerian company, N-Gaz.

The PUNCH had reported on Tuesday that N-Gaz, the main supplier of gas to Ghana’s VRA, had given the firm up to February 2016 to clear the outstanding debt.

This is coming as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has denied involvement in the alleged $25m bid by an Indian company, Oil and Natural Gas Corp-Mittal Energy Limited, to acquire an oil block, and the consequent non-refund of the signature bonus it paid for the deal.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, said in a statement that the modalities for the settlement of the N33.8bn debt by Ghana were reached on Monday between a team led by the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and the Ghanaian President, John Mahama.

The corporation specifically stated that both governments agreed that the VRA would pay the balance of August and September invoices by October 31 at the latest.

The statement noted that it was also agreed that the total sum of gas supply debt would be cleared by February 2016 at the latest.

“It was also agreed that all other supplies as from October will be paid for on or before the due date, while the backlog of arrears from 2012 will be defrayed by February 2016,” the NNPC said.

Nigeria had threatened to cut gas supply to Ghana by 70 per cent over a $181m debt that had accumulated over the years.

The Ghanaian Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, had led a delegation to Abuja last week to hold talks with the Nigerian authorities with a view to resolving the issue.

The N-Gaz is a joint venture company owned by the NNPC, Shell and Chevron that delivers gas through the West African Gas Pipeline Company to Ghana.

On the alleged $25m transaction with India, the NNPC distanced itself from the deal, stressing that it should not be linked with the failed bid by Oil and Natural Gas Corp-Mittal Energy Limited to acquire an oil block.

According to the corporation, reports linking it with the transaction are not correct.

Alegbe said, “Our attention has been drawn to the repeated reports linking the NNPC with the failed attempt by a certain Indian company, Oil and Natural Gas Corp-Mittal Energy Limited, to acquire an oil block during the 2006/2007 oil bid round, and the consequent failure to get a refund of the funds it committed to the deal.

“We wish to clarify that the NNPC is not the statutory body saddled with the responsibility of organising bid rounds and so could not have received the alleged amount of $25m or any payment from OMEL for the transaction.”

Credit: Punch