The acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Alex Mould, has downplayed suggestions that his outfit has breached its mandate by undertaking some projects in areas considered to be outside its jurisdiction.
The concerns became rife following GNPC’s decision to provide a US$100 million guarantee to the owners of the KarPower barge, in an effort to help address the shortfall in Ghana’s power supply.
Some concerned staff of GNPC are reported to have forwarded a petition to President John Mahama demanding the removal of the acting CEO, following the move, arguing that, he had over-exposed the financial situation of GNPC by providing guarantees for major projects such as the 225 MW KarPower Barge.
Speaking to the allegations, Mr. Mould noted that the guarantee was actually in line with their mandate as an enabler of the petroleum industry in Ghana.
“The GNPC is not over extended. GNPC is well capitalized and GNPC has a mandate to ensure that it is an enabler in the industry especially for its mandate of disposing the petroleum it generated from the ground,” he stated in an exclusive interview with Citi FM’s Bernard Avle. Mr. Mould explained that in furtherance of their mandate as an enabler, the GNPC thought it prudent to invest in the KarPower barge thus creating an outlet for the gas they generated.
“GNPC has to ensure that first of all, it has an outlet for the gas it is using. The reason that the GNPC went into the KarPower arrangement was because the GNPC will be supplying gas to KarPower and as such, we came in to support the guarantee to ensure that we would have an outlet for gas.”
KarPower investment purely a business decision The acting GNPC CEO maintained that the US$100 million investment in KarPower barge, was purely a business decision.
“If we’re not using our funds there must be other uses which will be to put them in a short-term investments in banks but our money is mainly meant for our projects. When those projects delay, we have to look for alternative investments. This is one of those investments.”
He further expressed optimism that this investment would pay off as soon as the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) settles its backlog of debt.
“There is a take out of this investment because once the PURC sorts out the backlog of debt and the power sector becomes viable, ECG will then give the guarantee and take us out off the guarantee.”
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