$450 Million: Being Subsidized by the Sahara Energy Resources Limited to Ivory Coast by way of Ameliorating the Merchandise of Liquefied Petroleum Gas

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- A retinue of the energy conglomerate ; Sahara Group – Sahara Energy Resource Limited maintains since 2014 furrowed $450 million into promoting the supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to Cote d’Ivoire as the country proceeds its pursuit for cleaner cuisine fuel druthers.

Nonetheless, the 2014 Population and Housing Census (RGPH 2014) in Cote d’Ivoire expressed that 78% of households use wood and charcoal as their cooking fuel while 22% use gas, the National LPG consumption has grown from 175KT in 2013 to 380KT in 2019, followers increased availability of the butane gas and deliberate policy intervention by the government.

According to 2020 YTD schedules, Sahara Energy has capitalized about $84 million to supply 200,578.22MT of LPG to the West African nation. Last week, the Sahara Gas LPG vessel berthed in Ivorian geysers detonating 10,000MT of LPG, also driving boosted divergence from other sources of cooking fuels that feign big menaces to healthcare and the environment. The Sahara Gas vessel is acquired by West Africa Gas Limited (WAGL), a joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and energy conglomerate, Sahara Group. The JV also has the Africa Gas LPG vessel in its cavalcade. Sahara Gas and Africa Gas have provided 373,651.22MT and 268,206.22 MT of LPG to Cote d’Ivoire since the commissioning of the vessels in March 2017.

Olayemi Odutola – Country Manager, Sahara Energy Resources in Cote d’Ivoire, noted “Working in collaboration with various stakeholders, Sahara Energy is delighted to be driving access to clean energy in Cote d’Ivoire. This is equally the case across the continent where our LPG vessels play a critical role in ensuring households and communities have a viable cleaner option for cooking and ultimately living healthy lifestyles.”

In addition, the Sahara Energy is already in a Joint Venture with Petroci Holding towards accomplishing the edifice of a 12,000MT LPG storage facility to improve storage and supply of the product in Cote d’Ivoire. The $43 million project will be executed in two phases, with commissioning slated for November 2021 and October 2022, respectively. Eventually, the building is predicted to ramp up LPG availability and security by heightening stockholding from 15 days to 27 days and also heighten supply of the product to Cote d’Ivoire’s bordering countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent

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