The UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27) has kicked off to a vibrant and eminent start in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh. The conference which runs from the 6th to the 18th of November brings countries together to take action toward achieving the world’s collective climate goals, as agreed upon under the Paris Agreement and the convention. The Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC), developers and managers of Ghana’s Petroleum Hub, is a key stakeholder in matters of climate change, and therefore sees this as another opportunity to engage energy transition champions and other stakeholders, to discover and improve systems and methodologies for environmental sustainability. Ghana’s 20,000-acre Petroleum Hub, the first of its kind in Africa, is a strategic energy and economic remedy for Ghana and Africa as a whole.
The 3 refineries, 5 petrochemical plants, storage tanks with a total capacity of 10 million m3 jetties, port infrastructure, petroleum, and the petrochemicals project, will be immediately accessible to more than 1.2 billion people in Africa, and in extension, the world. The PHDC position is grounded in Ghana’s overall energy transition plan, which in principle, spells out a well-marked strategy with the Petroleum Hub as its key objective. The interest is to partner the corporation in deploying sustainable methodologies to mitigate emissions and employ greener energy in its key and ancillary infrastructure operations. Natural Gas and other fossil fuel (products from the Petroleum Hub) will continue to be part of Ghana’s energy mix, as the country strategize to increase renewable energy in the medium to long term.
Ghana’s energy transition targets 2070 as the year to attain zero-emissions and renewable energy, even as it combines with other African countries as the lowest emitter of carbon in the world.
With regard to some of the key topics being discussed at COP27, Africa must complement its transition, by attaining an energy trilemma where there is a balance of security, affordability, and sustainability in how energy is accessed and used. This will ensure that countries and groups are not left out in today’s energy mix and tomorrow’s renewable energy. Ghana’s Petroleum Hub is the immediate complement to such an important factor in this transition. Ghana’s Petroleum Hub, the petroleum hub of choice, through The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), will act as a stout energy-generating and petroleum products-producing anchor for Africa, by taking advantage of Africa’s crude oil-generating capacity of 7.2 million barrels of oil per day (as of 2021).
The Hub’s 3 refineries (with a total of 900,000 barrels per stream day minimum) will be available to refine a significant percentage of Africa’s crude oil with Liquified Natural Gas (the transition fuel as it is termed) being a prominent fuel produced from the Hub. The Hub’s five (5) multi-purpose petrochemical plants (with a 90,000bpd capacity) will also produce fertilizers, lubricants, cosmetics, and other petrochemical products. Storage tanks with a total capacity of 10 million metric tonnes, linked to a port infrastructure that can accommodate Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCC), will store crude oil and refined products ready for use. The operations of the Petroleum Hub (with a keen interest in environmental sustainability and energy transition) will bridge the gap between Africa’s upstream and downstream oil and gas industries to a very large extent. Further, it will greatly contribute to Africa’s energy security and energy justice, even through the energy transition period.