Ghana, China Reach $800 Million Gas Development Deal

Ghana will borrow $800 million from China to build natural gas infrastructure, the head of the national gas company said Friday, months after the country became Africa's newest major oil producer.

"An agreement has been reached and we have secured $800 million (560 million euros) from the Chinese Development Bank for the project to take off," George Sipa-Adzah Yankey told Agence France Presse on Friday.

He said the west African nation's government had signed off on the deal and parliament is now expected to approve it.

The deal marks the latest sign of China's growing influence in Africa as well as Ghana's bid to capitalize on its recent oil and gas discoveries.

The country's government had pledged that major oil production, which began in December, would not result in the flaring of gas -- essentially burning it off -- with the practice viewed as harmful to the environment.

But the country did not have infrastructure in place to properly develop its gas resources when oil production began.

The work resulting from the loan from China will include pipeline construction, and the country is expected to begin producing gas by the end of 2012 at the earliest, said Yankey.