The West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), operator of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), has announced that it will undertake a coordinated and planned 10-hour shutdown of its Tema Regulating and Metering Station (RMS) to complete outstanding works under the Takoradi Tema Interconnection Project (TTIP).

According to WAPCo, the shutdown which will take place on Sunday May 10, from 4am to 2pm, “is critical for the completion by Eni Ghana of the last remaining items of the ongoing TTIP project that earlier in March had expanded the capacity of WAPCo’s Tema RMS to 235MMscfd.”

The Tema phase of the Takoradi – Tema Interconnection project is to expand facilities at WAPCo’s Tema Regulating and Metering Station to meet the increasing gas demands needs in the Tema Tema-Accra power and industrial enclave.

In June 2019, WAPCo completed commissioning and performance testing of the Takoradi phase of the Takoradi – Tema Interconnection Project (TTIP).

During the performance test, natural gas was successfully transported from the Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa fields in the Tano Basin to flow east through the existing West Africa Gas Pipeline to the Tema power enclave near Accra, the capital.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, 06 May 2020, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, of West African Gas Pipeline Company Ltd, Kwasi Agyeman Prempeh, explained that the shutdown is also “to minimize the impact to the communities that rely on power generated from cleaner and more efficient gas transported through the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) system to Tema.”

He further stated that there will be no gas supply to customers in Tema during the period.

The shut down is supported by the Ministry of Energy (MoE) and coordinated with Ghana Grid Company Ltd (GRIDCo), the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Electric Company of Ghana (ECG) and various power plants within the Tema enclave.

Meanwhile, WAPCo assures the general public that it, “will support Eni Ghana to safely and efficiently execute these repair works within the stipulated period.”

WAPCo thus apologized to its customers in Tema for the inconvenience expected to be caused by the shutdown, and promised that gas supply would be immediately restored after completion of the project works by Eni Ghana.

Takoradi Tema Interconnection Project

The Takoradi Tema Interconnection Project (TTIP) is a collaboration between WAPCo, the Energy Ministry, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, the Ghana National Gas Company and Eni Ghana to expand WAPCo facilities at Takoradi and Tema as well as the tie-in of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) system at Takoradi to the Ghana National Gas Company’s facility/line.

This was achieved by the execution of various commercial agreements and support of ENI Ghana Exploration and Production Ltd., Vitol Ghana Upstream, Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) and the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo).

Source: Citibusinessnews.com