Togo: Minister of Energy breaks the silence on recent outages

Energy

Friday, 05 April 2024 15:27

Togo: Minister of Energy breaks the silence on recent outages

(Togo First) - At last, Mila Aziable, Togo’s Minister of Energy, commented on the power outages that the country has been experiencing since January 2024. The official gave the real reasons behind the crisis on X (ex-Twitter).

"The energy crisis that has been ongoing since January 2024 in our region, mainly due to a natural gas supply shortage, is causing power cuts and disrupting our economies," Aziable said.

"The demand for natural gas in Togo is 35,000 MM BTU per day, but supplies are insufficient, sometimes nonexistent, resulting in high production costs and frequent outages," she explained following a meeting in Lomé of the West African Gas Pipeline Ministerial Committee (WAGPCo). The crisis takes place in a period of peak temperatures, and it affects Togo and neighbors such as Benin and Ghana.

Questioned on the matter, Olivier de Souza, oil and gas expert at Ecofin Agency, a pan-African economic media, said: “Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a natural gas product. Here, Nigeria supplies gas to Benin, Togo, and Ghana via the WAPCo pipeline since 2010. Unfortunately, recent maintenance works have caused transportation issues.”

“The Nigerian organization N-Gas, which aggregates gas volumes for WAPCo, sometimes fails to gather the necessary volumes to meet demand in the countries traversed by the West African gas pipeline,” the journalist added.

“It's a contractual breach that has been going on for ages, but everyone deals with it. Ironically, Nigeria, sometimes, uses volumes intended for its neighbors since its electricity production fails to meet demand,” De Souza further noted.

Despite these recurring difficulties, ECOWAS states keep relying on the WAGPCo. This year, stressed Minister Aziable, “the WAGPCo will focus on supply security, pipeline inspection, developing a new five-year strategic plan, promoting and managing the WAGP project.” In this regard, our source at Ecofin Agency claimed that “investment in an LNG import and regasification terminal is imperative. Especially for countries traversed by the WAGP: Benin, Togo, and Ghana (underway).” A project of this kind was also announced in Togo in 2018, with Equatorial Guinea, a significant LNG producer.

Diversifying energy sources is a viable solution, but it requires substantial investments in infrastructure, a process that could prove lengthy. Indeed, the WAGP project took over 28 years to materialize, and other similar initiatives have experienced comparable delays, while some are still not operational.

In Côte d’Ivoire, several natural gas reservoirs have been recently discovered. These include the Baleine and Calao reservoirs. Leveraging these discoveries, the country wants to connect to the West African pipeline. Again, this will require substantial investments.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

REFORMS OVERVIEW

STARTING A BUSINESS (more info)

At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business’ Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

TRADING ACROSS BORDERS (more info)

In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under the“Trading across borders” indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

After moving from the 133rd to 127th place under the 2020 Doing Business’ construction permit index, Togo intends to reiterate this feat in the coming edition of the global ranking. To this end, it has introduced this year multiple reforms.

GETTING ELECTRICITY (more info)

Over the past two years, Togo’s ranking under the Doing Business’ Getting electricity and water indicator has increased consistently. Owing this performance to multiple reforms aimed at making it easier for businesses to access power and water, Lomé plans to introduce even more reforms this year to keep up its improvements.

REGISTERING A PROPERTY (more info)

Out of all the 'Doing Business’ indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lomé has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togo’s public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

PAYING TAXES AND DUTIES (more info)

To improve its business environment, Togo introduced some important reforms related to the payment of tax and duties. From the replacement of some taxes to the cancellation of others through exemptions, the country has only one objective: offer the most attractive tax framework to investors and economic operators. To achieve this, the authorities relied on digitization.