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Showing posts from May, 2018

Securing a safer LPG Market in Ghana: Government must separate LPG activities from the remit of National Petroleum Authority

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is a by-product of natural gas extraction consists mainly of hydrocarbons and are an efficient, clean and cheap source of energy for both commercial and domestic use. Global use of LPG is primarily for domestic cooking and also for heating. Increasing access to LPG use is identified as the most plausible solution path for the attainment of United Nation’s goal of global access to clean cooking energy by 2030 (The World Bank, 2011). In that sense, various national governments have pursued and still pursuing aggressive policies directly or subtly at expanding LPG use. In Ghana, the campaign about LPG use started in the 1990’s and has since seen demand grow steadily especially among households [domestic use] in the urban cities. Demand is expected to reach a minimum of 5.9 million metric tons by the end of 2022 (Tei-Mensah, 2014). However, the LPG blessing is turning out to be a curse in Ghana owing to recently increased fire outbreaks/accidents espec