President Nana Akufo-Addo has met the CEO of Italian oil giant, Eni, Claudio Descalzi on Thursday October 4 to discuss Eni’s activities and the frontrunner role Ghana can play in the partnership.
Eni recently signed an agreement with UNDP to combine efforts on the development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, forestry and clean cooking initiatives, starting in Africa. This partnership aims at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and specifically SDG 7 on affordable and clean energy, SDG 13 on climate actions and SDG 15 on land management and re-and/or afforestation.
According to Eni, it is an intrinsic part of her business to improve access to energy in Africa as it invests more than half of its budget in Africa, boosting the domestic potential and promoting local development.
Eni in Ghana
Eni is operating in Ghana where it is committed to the sustainable development of the country. Her US$7bn investment in the integrated Offshore Cape Three Points, OCTP project represents the oil giant’s firm commitment to providing long term domestic gas supply.
The OCTP project will deliver stable, secure, reliable, and affordable volumes of gas to feed Ghana’s power plants for over 20 years. The use of domestic gas will allow Ghana to cut the use of liquid fuel, reducing CO2 emissions by 30%, and limiting the more expensive gas importation, whose entire value chain lies outside the country.
Also, Eni has destined over $15m to an extensive program of sustainability initiatives including economic diversification education, water and sanitation, and health activities, and is engaged in the development of solar power projects in the Country including off grid installations in remote areas and floating solar farms.
Eni has been present in Ghana since 2009 through its subsidiary Eni Ghana. Eni is Operator of the OCTP Integrated Oil &Gas Development Project (Eni 44.44%, Vitol 35.56%, GNPC 20%).
By Kafui Gale-Zoyiku
