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Mr Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah, Communication Director of Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) has lauded the efforts of the local engineers of the company for a successful shut down of the Atuabo Gas processing Plant.

He said the 21-day shutdown which began on February 1, was already in progress but the company had not received or recorded any major complaint from its partners and clients.

Mr Owusu- Bempah said this during a media encounter in Takoradi to brief the media on why the Gas plant was shut down and the way forward.

He hinted that the shutdown of the plant was to ensure routine maintenance works and to also take up multipurpose projects with its partners such as Tullow, ENI and Volta River Authority and not for power rationing popularly known as ‘dumsor’ as perceived by some people.

Mr Owusu-Bempah said his outfit would continue to engage the media in Ghana especially those in the western region to enable them give credible information to the public concerning the Atuabo Gas Processing plant.

Mr Maxwell Kwame Kally, Senior Manager, Engineering and Maintenance of Ghana Gas, who explained the reasons for the shutdown, said it would last between February 1, 2018 and February 25, to allow a team of engineers to undertake a planned routine maintenance of the facility to help improve on the plant’s capacity and prolong its life span.

According to him, all stakeholders including; Tullow oil, ENI, Volta River Authority and Marinus have put in place the necessary mechanisms to address any issues that may crop up.

Mr Kally explained that during the shutdown , expansion works would be carried out on the company’s regulating and meeting station infrastructure at Takoradi to help increase gas handling capacity from 135mmscf/d to 405 mmscf/d, adding that the increased capacity was expected to bring an additional 270 mmscf/d capacity to the facility.

He pointed out that upon the completion of the maintenance works, major planned government projects such as the railways expansion project and the fertilizer production plant at Jomoro and key government industrialisation projects would all benefit.

The Senior Engineer and Maintenance Manager, further stated that the shutdown would allow a tie-in at Sanzule which would enable ENI to transport about 170 mmscf/d of lean gas from the Western power enclave to the Eastern power corridor via the West African gas pipeline.

Mr Kally also said a tie-in with Marinus would be undertaken for the delivery of Isopentane to be used for power and fertilizer production, which he noted would minimise environmental impact.

Mr Sampson Kekebi Doh, Senior Manager in charge of operation, mentioned corrosion as one of the major problems of the Atuabo gas processing plant and that with the shutdown measures would be taken to address the situation.

Mr Doh said a 75-Km gas pipeline from Nzema to Prestea was ready and very soon gas would be supplied to mining companies in the catchment area and the Atuabo gas processing plant would this year reduce the flaring of gas, since most of the excess gas would be used to generate power and the rest channelled to the fertilizer production factory and other industrial uses.