Gas Pipeline Ready For Business (Back Page)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Takoradi (January 9, 2008)

THE Ghana portion of the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project is now ready to receive supplies from the project source in Nigeria.
During a visit by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, to some of the project sites in the Western Region, it became evident that the delay in the flow of gas through the lines could be traced to the source of the project in Nigeria.
The WAGP is expected to transport natural gas from Nigeria, through Togo and Benin to Ghana, and is expected to provide a more affordable source of energy to the country than crude oil.
Workers on all the three operational sites, namely the WAGP, the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Takoradi Thermal Plant, which are close to each other at Aboadze near Takoradi, are said to be in readiness to receive the gas from Nigeria.
A tour of the sites showed installation of new equipment with both local and expatriate workers busily moving around with one item or another in readiness for signal from the suppliers in Nigeria.
The West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project involves the construction of a 680-kilometre transport system designed to carry natural gas from Nigeria to markets in Benin, Togo and Ghana.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic at the project site, the WAGP Company Site Representative in Ghana, Mr Michael Streeting, said the work was 99.9-per cent complete”, adding that the system was ready to receive the gas for transmission to the VRA plant nearby.
He pointed out that technicians at the station were presently running final tests on the system.
Briefing Mr Baah-Wiredu at the Regulatory and Metering Station at Aboadze, Mr Streeting said what was left currently was for Ghana to get in touch with the Nigerian suppliers to expedite action for the right amount of the product to start flowing.
He explained that the pipelines which passed through the ocean travelled over 470??????? kilometres to reach the shores of Ghana.
Visitors to the site, which is secured, go through induction on health and safety measures and are also provided protective gear, which includes boots, goggles and helmet, for safety purposes.
At the VRA plant site, new yellow-looking turbines, which were said to have been laid purposely for the gas supply, were visible.
The plant managers of the VRA and the Takoradi International Company (TICO), operators of the Thermal Plant, said their outfits were also ready to receive the gas for onward transmission to add up to the supply of energy in the country.
The Plant Manager for TICO, Mr George Niako, said the two institutions would need less than one week to make use of the gas when it arrived.
The Plant Manager of the VRA, Mr Richard Badger, reiterated the preparedness of the two institutions, adding that they were ready to open the project but that it would be done after the gas had begun to flow in the right quantity.
The gas project is jointly owned by the Chevron oil company, which has 36.7 per cent equity; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), 25 per cent; Shell, 18 per cent; the Volta River Authority, 16.3 per cent; Societe Togolaise de Gaz (SoToGaz), two per cent and Societe BenGaz S.A. (SoBeGaz), two per cent.