The government is considering integrating the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) with the Tema Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal to boost the country’s gas supply.
The Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, who said this at the 10th anniversary celebration of West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) in Tema,said it followed the review of the ongoing Gas Master Plan (GMP).
The GMP was designed to provide a framework for the gas market increasing national access to petroleum products.
Mr Adam said the aim of the integration was to increase flexibility in the gas supply mix and boost security.
“As the review of the Gas Master Plan (GMP) is ongoing, government is considering the contractual, technical and commercial possibilities of integrating WAGP with the Tema LNG terminal to increase flexibility in the gas supply mix and boost security,” he said.
The Tema LNG facility has the scalable ultimate capacity to receive, store, regasify and deliver roughly 3.4 million tonnes (Mt) of LNG a year – which is equivalent to approximately 500 million cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of natural gas.
The project was developed to play an increasing role in meeting Ghana’s growing energy demand by providing the power generation industry with a highly reliable and clean fuel supply to meet projected power and industrial needs.
Dr Adam indicated that the gas industry was faced with global uncertainties due to energy transition on account of the European Union’s search for new gas suppliers and higher gas pricing.
He called on WAPCo and the gas producers to review their business plans with the view to taking advantage of new emerging markets.
“Whilst pursuing our resolve to find innovative ways of financing gas projects in line with our policy to develop our gas resources as transition fuel for the transformation of our economies,” he added.
He urged WAPCo to leverage the experiences gained to further collaborate with other partners in the sector to make Ghana a hub for reliable, efficient, and cleaner generation of power, not only for the development of Ghana alone but for the entire region of West Africa.
“We are celebrating 10 years of commercial operations, which is a testament to the fact that regional integration and development can be achieved when countries put their efforts together,” the Minister said.
Dr Adam said although Ghana had undertaken to develop its own domestic fields for obvious economic and strategic reasons, this had in no way impacted the operations of WAPCo or made the pipeline redundant.
He said despite the challenges encountered in the past, the contribution of WAGP in ensuring the energy security of the country could not be understated and the government was relentless in making sure WAPCo’s operations become financially stable.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
