Meeting with Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining on Monday, 31 March, 2008
The Head of Mission H.E. Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, accompanied by Ms. Susan H. Annobil, FSO A1, called on the Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining, on Monday 31st of March, 2008, to explore areas of cooperation between the sector and relevant Ghanaian counterpart.
Briefing Headmission, the Minister stated Serbia’s commitment to the goal of energy self sufficiency and gave an assessment of Serbia’s current energy consumption as well as its optimal requirement with regard to oil, gas and electricity. He went on to state that 18 to 22 percentage of Serbia’s oil and derivatives requirements were produced and refined in the country while about 80 percent crude imported from Russia and refined in Serbia.
With respect to electricity, the Minister indicated that it was largely hydro-based but Serbia also used coal-fired power. Serbia produces enough hydro-electric power for domestic consumption and was, therefore, in a position to export to neighboring countries. He however decried the fact that although on a yearly basis, electricity production and consumption evened out, in extreme winter conditions or at the height of the summer heat the extra demand for either heating or cooling put pressure on production output. The construction of three new coal-fired plants by 2009 was, therefore, under active consideration. Serbia however continues to depend on Russia for its gas requirement.
Headmission in return gave a brief overview of Ghana’s energy production and requirements from the Akosombo hydro-electric power to the expected benefits to be derived from the West Africa gas-pipeline project which is soon to start production. Increase in population growth and rapid industrialization dictate the imperative of exploring new avenues to make the country energy self-sufficient. The recent find of off-shore oil, therefore, could not have come at a better time and the country needs all the expertise it could access in bringing the find to production to augment its domestic consumption needs.
Headmission in this regard expressed the hope for Serbia’s cooperative assistance given its expertise in the energy sector. Headmission and his host were in agreement that the vagaries of world geopolitics demand that countries work towards achieving independent energy self-sufficiency and fuel efficiency. While nuclear energy was an alternative option to aim for, countries should explore ways of maximizing domestic production and consumption efficiency.
The Minister affirmed Serbia’s expertise in electricity generation, electric transformers and software for networking, plants and equipment and indicated Serbia’s readiness to cooperate in the area of technology transfer to enable Ghanaians acquire the necessary expertise in the sector.
In this connection, he indicated he would want to invite his Ghanaian counterpart to Serbia sometime in May for discussions and to explore areas of cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries. A letter would issue through the appropriate channels.
