By Ejiofor Alike, 03.29.2010
Ghana has expressed doubt over the ability of Nigeria to supply gas needed for power generation in three countries under the West African Gas Pipeline Project (WAGPP).
Speaking at the just-concluded Ghana Oil Summit in Accra, Chief Executive of Volta River Authority (VRA), the country’s electric power utility company, Mr. Kwetu Awotwi, said the gas infrastructure currently in place for power generation in Ghana comes from Nigeria under the WAGPP.
He said his country expects gas from Nigeria this year before gas production from the country’s Jubilee oil field starts next year.
The VRA boss also said that his country would need additional 180 – 200 million standard cubic feet per day of gas to generate additional 800 megawatts of electricity in the next three years.
“Coming from Nigeria, the West African Gas Pipeline Project has only contracted 123 million standard cubic feet per day and those of you who follow Nigeria know that additional supply of gas – even the supply that is supposed to come this year are in some doubt,” he said.
He said gas regulating and metering stations for the WAGPP in Cotonou, Lome and Tema had nearly been completed in readiness for gas supplies from Nigeria.
Awotwi disclosed that as part of the efforts to ensure that every Ghanaian has access to electricity by 2020, the government was planning to increase electricity generation from 1,980 megawatts in 2010 to 5,000mw by 2015.
West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), operators of the project, began series of project inauguration in December 2009, ahead of its planned start of commercial operation scheduled for this year.
However, works are ongoing in the construction of a compressor station in Badagry, to enable higher volumes of gas to be transported from Nigeria to Benin, Togo, and Ghana.
Managing Director of WAPCo Mr. Jackson Derickson, said at the company’s recent stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, that once this phase of the construction was completed and the facilities inaugurated, WAPCo would have the compression capacity to deliver to the VRA, enough gas to power four 110mw turbines and also supply WAPCo customers in Benin and Togo.
The government of Ghana had earlier disclosed that the completion of the WAGPP would cost $1 billion instead of the estimated $600 million, representing an increase of 70 per cent, owing to the delay in the implementation of the project.
When completed, the pipeline will supply natural gas from oil fields in the Niger Delta through the Escravos-Lagos pipeline system to thermal power stations in Benin, Togo and Ghana for electricity generation.
The 678 km pipeline, which is being laid mostly offshore, is about 18 to 20 inches in diameter, while the main offshore trunk is being laid on the seabed in 26 to 70 metres water depths at a distance of 15 to 20 kilometres from the shore of all four countries.
The World Bank approved a total of $125 million in guarantees supporting the construction of the 678 km WAGPP to transport natural gas from Nigeria to Benin, Ghana and Togo.
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) provided $75 million for up to 20 years and the International Development Association guarantee was for $50 million for 22 years.
MIGA would guarantee 90 per cent of the equity investment of $83.4 million in Ghana by WAPCo from the risk of ‘breach of contract’ for a net exposure of $67.5 million after treaty reinsurance.
However, Benin and Togo did not request IDA assistance for risk mitigation. WAPCo, led by Chevron Texaco, requested the Bank’s involvement, indicating that it would not implement the project without appropriate mitigation of what they perceived as political risks linked to natural gas sales to state-owned power companies in Ghana , Benin and Togo
Source: http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=169706
Ghana has expressed doubt over the ability of Nigeria to supply gas needed for power generation in three countries under the West African Gas Pipeline Project (WAGPP).
Speaking at the just-concluded Ghana Oil Summit in Accra, Chief Executive of Volta River Authority (VRA), the country’s electric power utility company, Mr. Kwetu Awotwi, said the gas infrastructure currently in place for power generation in Ghana comes from Nigeria under the WAGPP.
He said his country expects gas from Nigeria this year before gas production from the country’s Jubilee oil field starts next year.
The VRA boss also said that his country would need additional 180 – 200 million standard cubic feet per day of gas to generate additional 800 megawatts of electricity in the next three years.
“Coming from Nigeria, the West African Gas Pipeline Project has only contracted 123 million standard cubic feet per day and those of you who follow Nigeria know that additional supply of gas – even the supply that is supposed to come this year are in some doubt,” he said.
He said gas regulating and metering stations for the WAGPP in Cotonou, Lome and Tema had nearly been completed in readiness for gas supplies from Nigeria.
Awotwi disclosed that as part of the efforts to ensure that every Ghanaian has access to electricity by 2020, the government was planning to increase electricity generation from 1,980 megawatts in 2010 to 5,000mw by 2015.
West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), operators of the project, began series of project inauguration in December 2009, ahead of its planned start of commercial operation scheduled for this year.
However, works are ongoing in the construction of a compressor station in Badagry, to enable higher volumes of gas to be transported from Nigeria to Benin, Togo, and Ghana.
Managing Director of WAPCo Mr. Jackson Derickson, said at the company’s recent stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, that once this phase of the construction was completed and the facilities inaugurated, WAPCo would have the compression capacity to deliver to the VRA, enough gas to power four 110mw turbines and also supply WAPCo customers in Benin and Togo.
The government of Ghana had earlier disclosed that the completion of the WAGPP would cost $1 billion instead of the estimated $600 million, representing an increase of 70 per cent, owing to the delay in the implementation of the project.
When completed, the pipeline will supply natural gas from oil fields in the Niger Delta through the Escravos-Lagos pipeline system to thermal power stations in Benin, Togo and Ghana for electricity generation.
The 678 km pipeline, which is being laid mostly offshore, is about 18 to 20 inches in diameter, while the main offshore trunk is being laid on the seabed in 26 to 70 metres water depths at a distance of 15 to 20 kilometres from the shore of all four countries.
The World Bank approved a total of $125 million in guarantees supporting the construction of the 678 km WAGPP to transport natural gas from Nigeria to Benin, Ghana and Togo.
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) provided $75 million for up to 20 years and the International Development Association guarantee was for $50 million for 22 years.
MIGA would guarantee 90 per cent of the equity investment of $83.4 million in Ghana by WAPCo from the risk of ‘breach of contract’ for a net exposure of $67.5 million after treaty reinsurance.
However, Benin and Togo did not request IDA assistance for risk mitigation. WAPCo, led by Chevron Texaco, requested the Bank’s involvement, indicating that it would not implement the project without appropriate mitigation of what they perceived as political risks linked to natural gas sales to state-owned power companies in Ghana , Benin and Togo
Source: http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=169706
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