By: OrePulse

Ghana's total liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage capacity has passed 38,000 tonnes with the opening of a new 6,000-tonne terminal in Tema's industrial area, built by Sahara Group's Asharami Ghana unit. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) confirmed the increase following the terminal's commissioning.

NPA Chief Executive Officer Godwin Kudzo Tameklo said the new terminal raises Sahara Group's share of the country's total LPG storage to more than 10 percent. "With this investment, Sahara Group now accounts for more than 10 per cent of Ghana's entire LPG storage capacity," Tameklo said. He called the facility "a significant addition to our national infrastructure."

Two spherical tanks rated for propane service give the Tema terminal a combined 12,000 cubic metres of storage space. The site also houses six loading bays, seven product pumps and an LPG liquid compressor, and is connected to a dedicated 12-inch pipeline measuring 3.5 kilometres in length. Fire-protection, emergency-response and preventive-maintenance systems are also included.

Asharami Ghana Facility Manager Abayomi Oyenuga said the terminal's operations, from receiving product to dispatching it, run on a single automated system covering the whole site. "We have invested heavily in the terminal automation system for this facility," Oyenuga said. "Right from product receipt to dispatch, it is fully automated."

Oyenuga said that automation spans the full handling chain at the terminal, from the receipt of LPG on site to its loading at the six bays for onward distribution to customers and retailers.

Tameklo said the additional storage "will help improve supply reliability as Ghana works to expand LPG access." He added that the terminal "operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is in line with the President's vision for a 24-hour economy" — a reference to President John Dramani Mahama's 24-Hour Economy initiative.

The new Tema terminal adds to a national LPG storage network that includes facilities run by Tema Oil Refinery, Quantum and Ghana National Gas Company, whose storage site is at Atuabo. Those operators, together with Sahara Group's Asharami Ghana unit, make up the more than 38,000 tonnes of LPG storage capacity now installed across Ghana, according to the NPA.

The network linking those facilities, in Tema and at Atuabo, now forms the LPG storage base that the NPA tracks nationally, with the Asharami Ghana terminal marking the latest addition to it. The Tema commissioning is the newest expansion of that infrastructure overseen by the NPA, which regulates downstream petroleum storage and distribution in the country.

No cost for the investment was disclosed. Oyenuga said the investment at the site went into the automation system that now runs the terminal's receipt, storage and dispatch functions.

With the Tema terminal now in operation, Sahara Group's Asharami Ghana unit joins Tema Oil Refinery, Quantum and Ghana National Gas Company as one of at least four named operators holding LPG storage capacity in Ghana, according to the figures cited by the NPA.