Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
Government is making frantic efforts to make the country the petro-chemical hub of the West African sub-region, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has said.
According to him, the government will in 2019, begin the groundwork for the establishment of petrochemicals hub.
Explaining this in his presentation of the 2019 Budget Statement and Economic policy, Mr Ofori Atta said, the “hub will process gas from gas produced locally in petrochemical products and fertiliser for the domestic and West African sub-regional markets. This will be accomplished by developing major infrastructure for refining, discharging, storing, distributing, and trading petroleum products.”
Ghana consumes about 80,000 barrels of finished petroleum products in a day, with a refining capacity of 40,000 barrels per day, out of which real refining is below 25,000 barrels per day.
However, about three million metric tons of finished products are imported into the West African sub-region each month.
The hub project, according to government, would increase the presence of major international oil trading and storage companies in Ghana.
This will create regional trading champions to encourage joint ventures between local and international companies for knowledge transfer and wealth creation.
