In order to produce fertilizer from Ghana's natural gas, the government and a Moroccan business, the OCP Group, have finished the front-end engineering design (FEED) for a $1.3 billion fertilizer complex near Takoradi in the Western Region.
The goal of the project is to hasten the industrialization of the agricultural industry by increasing fertilizer supply and lowering input prices for farmers. It is expected to be finished in three years.
The project would begin with the manufacture of one million metric tons of fertilizer and then increase, according to Dr. Ben Asante, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGC), who spoke to the Daily Graphic in Houston, Texas, in the United States of America.
He said that it came as a result of the tripartite agreement being signed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Gas, the gas supplier, and the OCP Group of Morocco, the investor.
amounts of gasoline
The fertilizer would require between 80 million and 100 million standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas, according to Dr. Asante, who made this statement in an interview on the sidelines of the current Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.
He claimed that the nation would save $400 million a year on the importation of fertilizer.
He claimed that using the full potential of the nation's gas resources would hasten industrialization and raise the people out of poverty.
So, the manufacture of fertilizer, which will be a secondary activity in terms of gas, would be essential.
If we can use gas as a feedstock to create fertilizer domestically, we will be able to save a considerable amount of foreign currency, around $400 million per year', he added.
Imports According to projections from the United States' International Trade Administration, Ghana will be the leading importer of fertilizer in West Africa by the year 2020. Currently, Ghana imports virtually all of the fertilizer it uses.
According to the organization, in that year, the nation imported around 26% of all imports in the subregion.
Due to the nation's reliance on imports, the agricultural industry is subject to price volatility brought on by fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
According to Dr. Asante, if the project is completed successfully, the nation would be spared from such imports and the hazards they bring.
He had high hopes that it would make fertilizers more accessible and less expensive for farmers, removing the challenges and disappointments that farmers and the agricultural industry had to deal with when the conflict in Ukraine, a significant supplier of Ghana's fertilizer, delayed supply.
He said that extra fertilizer produced by the local plant may be exported to help the nation's economy.
for industries, gas
The CEO of Ghana Gas noted that the gas-to-fertilizer effort was only one of many ways his company was using Ghana's abundant gas resources to advance the government's objective for economic change.
According to Dr. Asante, Ghana Gas is making it more appealing for manufacturing enterprises to employ gas as a cost-effective alternative to other forms of energy generation.
According to estimates, switching to gasoline as a fuel may cut a company's energy costs in half, freeing up resources to be used in other ways.
"We want to use the gas to enhance the industrial sector." There are several enterprises in the Tema enclave, for instance, that use liquid fuel and electricity as direct fuel substitutes for natural gas.
"We think it might reduce their operational costs by roughly 50% and serve as a basis for Ghana's industrial growth," he added.