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Sahara Oil Company Limited of Nigeria has been temporarily engaged to supply the Volta River Authority (VRA) with crude oil to feed the Aboadze Thermal Plant. It involves the supply of 400,000 barrels of crude oil at a cost of between $36million and $52million on a monthly basis. This follows the suspension of the tender for the supply of crude oil to the VRA to feed the Aboadze Plant. The Chief Executive Officer of the VRA, Mr Kweku Andoh Awotwi, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said a committee had been set up by the management of the VRA to inquire into the tendering process. The Aboadze Thermal Plant, which depends on crude oil to generate electricity, was activated in 2000 to support the Akosombo Dam when the country was faced with energy crisis. Currently, the plant generates 220 megawatts of power to augment that generated at Akosombo. Mr Awotwi said the VRA had not contract with any oil marking company to supply oil to it. The Deputy Chief Executive Office of the VRA, Mr Maxwell E.Y. Odoom, explained further that Sahara Oil had been engaged to supply the authority with crude oil on cargo basis because it had in the past supplied the VRA with 100 per cent pure crude oil. He said in accordance with the VRA�s policy, every year the tender was re-opened for companies to submit their proposals for consideration to supply crude oil. He said to ensure that the oil was not contaminated, the VRA had chartered a vessel which constantly lifted the oil and delivered pure, so the VRA ensured that the oil was 100 per cent pure, hence the engagement of Sahara Oil to supply the VRA on cargo basis until a new tender was opened and a winner selected among competitive companies to supply it with crude oil. He said to ensure that the oil was not contaminated, the VRA had chartered a vessel which constantly lifted the oil and delivered it to the authority. Mr Odoom explained that it was better to deal with one company till another competent company was found to continue with the supply. He said Sahara Oil won the contract to supply crude oil to the VRA between 2001 and 2002 and did that till 2004. Earlier, Mr Andoh-Awotwi said the management of the VRA was negotiating with the unionised staff of the company for some departments like the Health, VRA Schools and Estate to be given out on a subsidiary basis to private entities to be run. He said that was to ensure that the VRA met the challenges that had come up as a result of the deregulation of the energy sector and said the government had offered its support to the VRA in that direction. Mr Awotwi gave the assurance that the VRA would do everything possible to generate adequate power to meet the growing demand of the country, as well as export the excess to other countries.