Ghanaian authorities will shut down the newly built gas processing plant at Atuabo, 328 km west of the capital Accra for maintenance.
A release from the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) reaching Xinhua on Saturday said the shutdown which would be temporary would enable maintenance work to commence on April 20 and last for about 10 to 14 days.
“It is a mandatory outage required by the vendors for certain critical components in the gas processing plant, particularly our compression facilities, which have been running for nearly 4,000 hours since installation and commissioning,” Sipa-Yankey, GNGC chief executive officer, said in the statement.
He said the planned shutdown is also needed for warranty assurance and viability of its operating insurance.
“Given the multiple equipment manufacturers involved, and the need for cohesive collaboration, we expect the shutdown to last for about 10 to 14 days,” the statement said, adding the gas company was in close communication with the Volta River Authority (VRA), the main gas off-taker, and Tullow Oil Ghana, the upstream gas producer, to ensure a smooth completion of the planned maintenance works.
In a related development, the VRA said it was adequately prepared to contain the challenges that would be brought on by the scheduled shut down of the Ghana gas processing plant.
“The VRA has adequate light crude oil (LCO) in stock to operate the plants at Aboadze during that period,” the VRA assured its customer, adding that the interruption in gas supply will not affect the operations of power generation at Aboadze.
The over 800 million U.S. dollar gas facility had been the desire of the government to ensure energy security through the combination of hydro power, gas powered thermal plants and renewable energy sources in order to create the enabling environment for industrial growth. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
