Ghana Meets Nigeria To Avoid Threats To Cut Gas Supply

Accra - "They are already in Nigeria. They left Ghana last night. We are praying that they are able to negotiate ... so that it doesn't come to a cut in supply," a government spokesman said. A powerful Ghanaian government delegation is already in Nigeria holding emergency talks to avert a drastic gas supply cut threat,
thus avoiding a potential political crisis. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has threatened to cut gas supply by 70 percent to Ghana's main power generation company by Friday due to unpaid debts of $181 million. Ghana already suffers power shortages and Nigerian gas meets about 25 percent of its needs. Nigerian gas flows to Ghana through
the West African Gas Pipeline Company's pipe that runs via Benin and Togo. VRA buys the gas to fire power plants mainly in the east of the country. Power cuts have raised the cost of doing business and angered voters at a sensitive time for President John Mahama's government ahead of what is expected to be a tough re-election battle next year. Mahama has vowed to end the power cuts by the start of next year and the minister for power has said he would resign if the problem has not been fixed by then..