Ghana Gas Company: leveraging natural resources for growth

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Dr. Ben K.D Asante

The Ghana Gas Company reflects the many blessings, in terms of natural resources, God has gifted Ghana.

Ghana’s oil and gas history stretch a bit over a decade. Ghana discovered its oil richness in 2007. The large-scale oil extraction and gas generation were initiated in the year 2011. These extraction processes made way for the incorporation of the Ghana Gas Company to oversee pertinent affairs of Ghana’s oil resources.

Since its incorporation, the Ghana Gas Company has strongly delivered on its mission, vision and many objectives as well as strategies.

Prominent among the hallmark of Ghana Gas Company’s strategies are the deliberate community engagement and environmental impact assessment that the company uses to engage its project communities on the extent to which the company’s activities affect their daily lives.

The Ghana Gas Company is also committed to the adherence of internationally acceptable standards in on-shore and offshore operations. This limits the incidence of environmental pollution and damages that occur to the human and ecological sustenance over time.

Finally, but not exhaustive, the Ghana Gas Company has opened doors that embrace feedback from the public on the impact (on cultural, environmental, social, political and economic grounds) of the company’s activities.

Profile of Dr. Ben K.D Asante

Dr. Ben K. D. Asante, is a renowned Oil and Gas Engineer and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas).

Dr. Asante has more than 25 years global experience in the Oil and Gas industry. He is one of few black Oil and Gas Engineers to have testified as an expert pipeline engineer before the US Supreme Court. He has also provided expert witness testimonies on gas custody transfer disputes in South America.

Dr. Asante is a lecturer at the School of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a former Engineering and Technical Director of Ghana’s premier Gas Infrastructure Project which birthed Ghana Gas’ Atuabo Gas Processing Plant and allied gas infrastructure in the Western Region. He was the mastermind of Ghana’s first Gas Master Plan in 2008.

Dr. Asante has provided Consulting, Engineering services, Project Management, and technical support for various projects throughout the world, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). He has a proven record in various technical and management roles for major operating companies and engineering consulting companies in Canada, including Nova/TransCanada; US and Ghana.

He was adjudged the Best Worker for the Year for Excellence at the global energy firm, Enron Corporation, in 2001. In 2019, he was declared the 2019 Energy Personality of the Year by the Ghana Energy Awards Scheme while leading the company to win the coveted Energy Company of the Year award as well by the same scheme. Dr Ben K.D Asante also picked up the CEO of the Year – Public Sector in the 2020 Ghana Business awards.

As CEO of Ghana Gas, Dr. Asante led a brave move to indigenize the Gas Processing Plant operations; a move that changed the operatorship of the GPP from Sinopec and empowered the local employees to operate the plant; saving the company huge sums of money.

Dr. Asante holds a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from KNUST, Ghana and an MSc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada. He also obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College, London/University of Calgary, where he later taught Gas Processing and Pipeline Engineering.

He has published 15 technical papers and made over 80 technical presentations within and outside North America on Oil/Gas Infrastructure Design and Operations.

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