The Ghana Grid Company has announced the temporary shut down of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah which supplies gas to the Atuabo Gas Processinng Plant. The shutdown will mean that power production will be affected, a statement issued by GRIDCo said.

The vessel, according to GRIDCo, is being shut down effective Sunday March 20, 2016, for “mandatory inspection and maintenance works.”

The statement signed by the company’s Chief Executive, Ing. William Amuna, said this will affect gas flow from the Atuabo Processing Plant, and by extension affect the production of power.

“Consequently, gas flow from the Atuabo Gas Processing plant to the Aboadze Thermal enclave has been curtailed and is expected to commence upon resumption of production from the FPSO.”

The statement also revealed that gas flow from the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), has suddenly reduced to only 6.0mmscf from the contracted volume of 120.0mmscf due to a destruction of some pipelines in Nigeria.

The statement added that following this development, their engineers have commenced the process of converting all dual fuel thermal plants to run on light crude oil to resolve the challenge.

“The conversion process, which involves cleaning of fuel nozzles and other preparatory work, is expected to take few days to complete.”

According to GRIDCo, “during this period, the power supply system may experience some challenges thereby affecting power supply stability.”

They further urged the general public to stay calm while their engineers work around the clock to bring the supply of gas to normalcy.

During his state of the nation address on February 25 this year, President John Dramani Mahama showered praises on himself and his  appointees for working to overcome the power crisis

Source: http://thebftonline.com/business/energy/18007/massive-power-outages-loom-as-gas-supply-from-atuabo-wapco-run-dry.html#sthash.Pz3ioWho.dpuf