Ghana Gas To Be Hooked To W. Africa Gas Pipeline

Cabinet has given approval for the interconnection of the Ghana Gas Pipeline in Aboadze in the Western Region, with the West African Gas Pipeline at Tema through a reverse flow engineering, Minister of Petroleum, Emmanuel Kofi-Armah Buah has said. He explained that the decision was to ensure regular gas supply to all regions of the country in view of the increasing gas supply. Disclosing this at the Ghana Gas Forum in Accra yesterday, Mr Buah said a project implementation team had been constituted to oversee the execution of the project but did not elaborate. The two-day forum being organised by Ghana Gas Forum, a capacity building organisation, on the theme �Harnessing Ghana�s Gas Potential,� is being chaired by Professor Kwesi Botchwey, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission. He disclosed that to ensure long term gas supply security, government had intended to construct a dedicated gas pipeline from Takoradi to Tema. Mr Buah said the intention of government was to develop gas infrastructure to harness the country�s increasing gas supply, disclosing that the country�s gas reserves were estimated at five trillion cubic feet. He said the Jubilee Field, the TEN, and ENI Sankofa and other oil and gas projects were projected to bring in between 300 and 400 miillion standard cubic feet of gas by 2018. Currently, the Jubilee Field is supplying about 100 million standard cubic feet of gas a day to the Aboadze Gas Processing Plant, while the TEN and ENI Sankofa projects are projected to supply 60 million and 180 million standard cubic feet of gas a day respectively when completed. Mr Buah hinted that government was planning to expand the Aboadze Gas Processing Plant, which currently produces more than 100 million standard cubic feet of gas a day from the Jubilee Field, to take on the additional gas from other gas fields. �The advantages to be derived from the development and use of our own gas for power generation cannot be over emphasised. It will provide fuel security for power plants �,� he said, adding that the �gas resources will also boost the fertiliser, transportation and petrol-chemical industries.� The Minister commended the Ghana Gas Forum for the programme, stressing that its theme had synergised with the Ministry of Petroleum�s strategic objective of ensuring accelerated and integrated development of the oil and gas industry. Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gas Company, in his remarks, said skeptics ridiculed the Aboadze Gas Processing Plant and said it was �not possible,� but it had been successfully completed and would be inaugurated by President John Mahama today. Dr Yankey said the country�s gas resources could be a catalyst to propel the country�s development if well harnessed and stressed the need for gas infrastructure to harness the resources. The Executive Secretary of Ghana Gas Forum, Senam F. Gbeho, said the programme was the third to be organised by his outfit. He said the forum provided an opportunity for discussing and analysing the social, commercial and legal issues affecting the country� s gas industry and proffer solutions to deal with those challenges. �In the light of the huge potential of the natural gas industry, GCF echoes the broader stakeholders� call for leveraging this opportunity to boost economic and social development to Ghana and the sub-region,� he said.