Government says Nigeria’s inability to supply crude oil is partly responsible for the resurging power outages across the country.

Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor, explained on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Monday that vandalism at oil production sites in Nigeria has disrupted production which is affecting Ghana.

“We are having some problems with even crude supply that we have paid for [Nigeria] they have not been able to deliver the crude,” he said.

According to the Deputy Minister, government is in search of alternatives to get reliable fuel for power plants in the country as parts of Accra experience blackouts.

Over the weekend many parts of the capital, Accra, experienced outages for hours.

Joy News has learnt that the shutdown of gas supply from Nigeria and a mechanical fault on one of the thermal plants in the Aboadze enclave resulted in the shedding of more than 300 megawatts of electricity.

At the height of the energy crisis in 2015, more than 900 megawatts had to be shed.

Thermal power production in Accra heavily relies on crude oil while the Aboadze enclave relies more on gas.

Although Ghana has cheap gas to power thermal plants, there is no pipeline connecting the Aboadze enclave to the Accra and Tema power production sites, leaving more than enough gas stuck in the Western region.

The Tema enclave is left to rely on gas from Nigeria, a relationship that is vulnerable to Nigeria’s troublesome petroleum production industry.

Production companies in Nigeria have declared force majeure after militants attacked gas pipelines. Force majeure is a legal term that frees a company from a contractual obligation due to circumstances beyond its control.

A subsidiary of Italian oil producer Eni confirmed it lost an equivalent of 4,200 barrels a day after two attacks on its pipelines in May.