Ghana Standards Authority To Verify Volumes Of Oil From Jubilee Field

The Ministry of Trade and Industry will soon lay before Cabinet a new bill to task the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to verify and ascertain volumes of oil the country drills each day from the Jubilee field. �This bill when passed into law, will protect the oil we produce and Ghana will have value for money.� Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Trade and Industry, disclosed this when he launched this year�s World Metrology Day organized by the GSA. The day on the theme �Measurement and the Global Energy Challenge, � is celebrated every year to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875, which provided the basis for a coherent measurement system worldwide. The Trade Minister noted that the verification which would be done by GSA in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, would ensure accuracy in the measurement of oil, adding, �this will help us strategise more effectively in our energy conservation plans.� He noted that the issue of increasing energy cost was a matter of great concern to all players in the energy sector, and there was the need for energy efficiency, as the a basis for reducing environmental impact calls for a realistic, meaningful approach to energy management which also emphasizes the relevance of accurate measurement of energy use and waste in the system. He said the Ministry has also submitted the revised Standards Bill for consideration that would ensure that GSA enforced standards in the country to curtail sub-standards goods that had flooded the market. Mr Kwabena Acheampong, Director of the Metrology Division of GSA, said the use of metrology was mandatory and better power quality measurement would help improve the stability of transmission grids. He noted that the value of metrology in terms of socio-economic development could not be quantified, and it was necessary for all business operators to embrace metrology in their daily activities to ensure fairness and quality in trade. �Any company dealing in weights, measures, weighing and measuring instruments is required by the Weights and Measures Act, 1975, (NCRD 326), to obtain operational license from the Authority which was renewable annually. Metrology is the science of measurement, and it includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. Mrs Elizabeth Adetula, Deputy Executive Director in charge of Core Services, said due to the importance of measurement in national development, GSA has ensured that five of its metrology laboratories have been accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, the standards for general requirements for competence of testing and calibration laboratories. �The significance of accreditation is that it leads to international recognition of the technical competence of the accredited laboratories and shows that results obtained are reliable, thereby enhancing trade�. She extended a hand of friendship to all stakeholders to collaborate with them in all their activities to push the country to a higher pedestal of development.