Trinidad & Tobago pledges support to gas industry (PAGE 51, JAN 31, 2011)

Story: Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Takoradi

Trinidad & Tobago has pledged her maximum co-operation to ensure that Ghana’s natural gas from the Jubilee Field is well harnessed.
This is to help Ghana to derive full benefit from the gas, which could lead to the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol.
The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar, gave the assurance when a team of chiefs from the coastal paramountcies of the Western Region, led by the Deputy Energy Minister and member of the National Gas Commercialisation Task Force, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, visited that country on an investment drive.
Mrs Bissessar said her government had approved in principle to co-operate with Ghana on the exploitation of the country’s natural gas.
She said the Caribbean nation depended 100 per cent on natural gas for its entire energy needs of some 1,500 megawatts.
“We now have the expertise and knowledge and Ghana has acknowledged that. We hope that Ghana will approve of our proposal to make this expertise available to her,” she said.
Mrs Bissessar said the move was much in tune with her country’s vision of greater south-south co-operation among members of the Commonwealth, which included Ghana and several African and Caribbean nations.
She said co-operation between Ghana and her country was the first time her country had had the opportunity to go out of the island to share its experience and expertise for the benefit of another producer country.
She expressed the hope that the partnership would be of immense mutual benefit to the the peoples of the two countries.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Buah, said the Ghana Government was excited about the partnership with Trinidad & Tobago and that the nation was open to business.
He said it was the determination of President John Evans Atta Mills’s administration to ensure that the hydrocarbon discovery and production in Ghana brings benefits to Ghanaians.
Mr Buah said the government would ensure greater accountability and transparency, and protect the interest of Ghana to ensure that the country adoptsthe best standards in the oil and gas industry.
For his part, Awulae Attibrukusu III, the Vice-President of the National House of Chiefs and board member of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, lauded the growing co-operation between the two countries.
Other members of the delegation were paramount chiefs of Western Nzema, Awulae Annor Agyaye and Awulae Amihere Kpainyinli, Mrs Catherine Afeku, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue Gwira, the chief executives of Jomoro and Ellembele districts and Nzema East Municipality.