By:Intellinews

Ghana has nearly paid off its $75mn debt to Nigeria for gas supplies, settling roughly 90% of arrears owed to N-Gas, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), a source familiar with the matter told Business Day.

The payments, totalling $65mn, were made in three tranches between February and April this year – $37.5mn, followed by two instalments of $15mn each, the source said. The disbursement forms part of a broader gas supply agreement under the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) framework.

While Ghana has cleared most of its arrears, a minor balance remains under discussion, the source added.

N-Gas, which is 62.35% owned by Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPCL, with Chevron (US) holding 20% and Shell (UK) 17.65%, transports gas via the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System and WAGP to customers in Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

The development follows public pressure from Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, who recently called on Ghanaian authorities to honour their commitments under the WAGP treaty.

“Ekpo also called on the Ghanaian leader to ensure that relevant agencies in his country are prompt in their financial obligations for gas supplies,” Nigeria’s petroleum ministry said in a statement earlier this month.

“He appealed to President Mahama to direct relevant authorities to expedite action on the proposed fiscal amendments to the WAGP Act to align with evolving operational realities and maintain regional harmony as enshrined in the Treaty.”

Although Nigeria did not publicly confirm receipt of the funds, Ekpo’s statement prompted heightened scrutiny of the role of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and local power distribution companies in the delayed payments.

Efforts to obtain official confirmation from N-Gas were unsuccessful. The company’s managing director, Aliyu Aminu, declined to comment when contacted.

In February, Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, disclosed that the government had received a formal notice from N-Gas threatening to halt gas supplies over the unpaid debt.

“The government is focusing on resolving the problem. We will do everything possible to ensure that after the pipeline is cleaned, the flow of gas will resume to keep the lights on, because the health and growth of the economy depend on access to stable energy,” Jinapor told reporters at the time.

The financial dispute had raised fears of potential energy shortages in Ghana, which relies heavily on Nigerian gas to power its electricity grid.

The West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), a regional infrastructure project stretching from Nigeria to Ghana, is seen as critical to energy cooperation and economic integration within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).