rom. This means that, Gazprom has been dropped by GNPC for Rosneft.
Under the agreement, Rosneft would deliver 250 million cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a re-gasification terminal at the Tema Port, to be processed and carried to the GNPC’s Tema Metering Station.
Mr. Frederick Blay, the GNPC Board Chairman, and Igor Ivanovich Sechin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Management Board of Rosneft, initialled the agreement for their respective companies.
The deal is expected to place Ghana at the centre of West Africa’s rapidly growing energy market – provide job openings and building local capacity.
The statement added that the two companies also agreed to deepen their cooperation in the development of the upstream and downstream sectors.
Mr. Blay expressed optimism that through “this strong cooperation, Ghana can also act as a gateway for Russian investment within the wider West African region”.
Notably, Mr Sechin said it was the beginning of a new phase of the development cooperation between Russia and Ghana.
“Ghana has placed itself among dynamically developing world economies with the energy demand growing year on year,” he stated.
Dr. Kofi Kodua Sarpong, CEO of GNPC is quoted as saying, “we are happy to be working with Rosneft on this LNG transaction and already the two parties are looking at greater cooperation and partnership in the upstream sector”.
Apparently, a comparison of the two companies to ascertain which company is better placed to serve the interest of Ghana reveals that, comparatively, Gazprom has competitive advantage over Rosneft in all aspect of industry indicators.
The agreement was the first stage in a planned series of partnerships between GGLNG and GNPC, with both companies working to develop the infrastructure and services required to manage and market the projected gas flows from the region, Gazprom said.
Under the agreement, Gazprom Global LNG would supply the chilled gas to the import terminal at Tema before regasifying it and selling to GNPC. The long term supply contract was expected to significantly increase the country’s energy security, providing Ghana with 250 MMscf/d of competitively priced gas.
The project’s proposed technical configuration comprised a floating regasification barge, floating storage unit and a pipeline to an existing gas grid in Tema. The contract with Gazprom was expected to significantly increase energy security in Ghana, providing the country with approximately 250 mmcf/d of natural gas, with the contract volumes satisfying more than 1,000 MW of thermal generating capacity.
Gazprom is the world’s largest supplier of gas and owner of gas related infrastructure. It operates in all parts of the “gas chain” from exploration and production, petrochemicals through to transportation, power production and marketing of Liquefied Natural Gas to customers.
The company’s revenues in 2016 were $100bn, more than double Ghana’s GDP. It is the largest supplier of gas to Western Europe and controls more than 200 billion barrels of energy or 17% of the world’s total overall gas resources. Its portfolio of global assets would allow it to guarantee long term reliable supply for Ghanaians.
The company is a leader in LNG production, with access to more than 50 million metric tonnes of LNG. Its long term supply contract with Ghana was to be for 1.7 million metric tonnes (250 MMscf/d) which would be added to existing long term sales to Japan, Korea, China, India, Taiwan, the UK, the USA, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico among others.
The Company is included in the list of strategic companies and organizations of Russia. The Company’s largest shareholder (50.00000001% of the equity) is JSC ROSNEFTEGAZ, fully owned by the Russian Government, while BP holds 19.75% of shares, QHG Shares Pte. Ltd. holds 19.5% of shares, one share belongs to the state represented by Federal Agency for State Property Management, whereas the remaining shares are free floating.
Rosneft’s successful performance in 2016 is evidence of the efficiency of the applied strategy and the significance of its priorities. All this makes it possible to rely on Rosneft sustainable development in the future to benefit its shareholders.
The Company’s oil refining and petrochemicals unit comprises 13 large refineries situated in key regions of Russia, as well as three petrochemical plants, four gas processing plants (including the assets of Bashneft and the share in Slavneft-YANOS), two catalyst production plants and one service company. In Germany, the Company holds stakes in three refineries and controls more than 12% of oil refining capacities with the total annual refining throughput of 12.5 mmt, and in Belarus it indirectly owns 21% of shares in OJSC Mozyr Refinery.
Rosneft is a leader in terms of volumes and cost of organic growth of reserves among public oil and gas companies in Russia and abroad due to the traditionally high efficiency of exploration.
In Q4 2016, the Company increased gas production and became a leader among independent gas producers in Russia in terms of daily average gas production. In 2016, gas production grew by 7.3%, reaching a record high of 67.1 bcm.