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Efforts by the Ghana Gas Company to commence the delivery of gas in December 2012 might suffer some delay due to challenges facing the company.
According to the Chief Executive of the Ghana Gas Company, Dr. Sipa Yankee, late payment of the 15 per cent payment obligation by the Ministry of Finance to the project contractors led to a period of stalemate on the progress of work.
Again, heavy rains recorded in the western region, the project region, and the issue of land acquisition on the right of way of the project has all led to some delays that could affect meeting the December 2012 deadline set by the company to start delivery of gas from the jubilee field.
The delay could shift the project completion to next year, but we have adopted some preventive measures to stop that from happening,’ Dr. Sipa Yankee intimated when The Chronicle enquired from him about the progress of work on the gas processing plant at his office in Accra.
These delays notwithstanding, the Chief Executive of the Gas Company is confident that the company is making significant inroads into completing the project on time.
On the project progress made so far, Dr. Sipa Yankee said the offshore pipes arrived on the 21 st of September at the Takoradi port, and would be conveyed in batches to site by the end of October 2012, adding that the pipe-laying ship will also mobilised by the end of October.
He also noted that earth and civil work at the site for the Gas processing plant is ongoing and we are expecting the arrival of the plant by early November this year. ‘We are making a lot of progress’ he said.
On some pragmatic initiatives by the company to meet deadlines despite the delays, Dr Yankee said his outfit has increased the work force for laying the pipe lines and doing some of the work in parallel to increase output.
‘We are determined to complete mechanical integration works by early December’ he assured.
Ghana’s quest to build its gas processing infrastructure following the discovery of commercial quantities of oil in the jubilee fields in 2007 has been met with lots of challenges and sometimes skepticism.
When the Dr. Sipa Yankee led Ghana Gas Company first announced its ambitious plan of completing the first phase of a gas processing plant by December 2012, not only did some experts in the industry doubt his ability to deliver on this promise, but also raised questions on the quality of plant Ghana stands to get within the ambitious time.
Other concerns raised by some industry experts and sources close to the project indicate that Ghana opted for a plant with a 46% liquid recovery rate, to one which has a recovery rate of 85%, and which could yield an additional 30,000 barrels of gas per day, amounting to over $100 million a year.
Information gathered by The Chronicle indicates that the only excuse used to get Ghana to accept the plant under construction is that it would need an additional 40 days to complete.
But the Ghana Gas Company explains that time is of essence, considering the fact the oil wells stand the risk of collapsing if the gas was not extracted.
Again, Dr. Sipa Yankee told The Chronicle that his outfit is committed to building a world class gas plant for the country.
The Chronicle
