The Ghana Gas Company (GGC) says it expects to complete the process of commissioning the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant (GPP) by the end of January this year.

That would enable the company to increase its offtake of raw gas from the Jubilee Field’s FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to supply the Volta River Authority (VRA) with lean gas at the optimal 120 million standard cubic feet per day (120MMSCFD).

A statement signed by the Board Chairman of the company, Dr Kwesi Botchwey, said the commissioning would clear the way for work to begin on phase two of the project.

Specific works under phase two include additional equipment to increase by-product production, the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) export infrastructure as well as the onshore pipeline extension from Esiama to the Prestea-Tarkwa mining enclave.

Challenges

“Since raw gas was introduced into the GPP, operational activities on the offshore pipeline component, including the regulating and metering stations at Esiama and Aboadze, have been smooth,” the statement said.

However, some few challenges relating to equipment reared their heads at the GPP.

The items, generally referred to as punch list items, it said, were the components that experienced less than optimal performance and were specifically identified during the commissioning process.

Corrective works

The GCC statement said corrective works put in place were on course.

“We are pleased to note that after a series of intermittent interruptions from the FPSO (spanning a few minutes to as long as 15 hours) we have since Monday, January 5, 2015, not experienced any compressor trips from the FPSO. Our engineers have met with Tullow’s engineers to explore ways of averting unwarranted occurrences and we are pleased with the outcome of discussions and resultant actions,” the statement said.

It indicated that a significant amount of progress had been made to complete the remedial works and corrective fine-tuning of key punch list items prior to formal handover of the project by the contractors, Messrs Sinopec, to Ghana Gas.

The statement also touched on the current satisfactory operational works being carried out by the GPP to supply the VRA with lean gas for power production, and added that GPP was also producing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as well as other condensates for the downstream market.

Currently, it said, Aboadze was relying solely on gas from Atuabo to power the various plants in the enclave.

For now, what GPP was waiting for was VRA’s completion of the necessary works at its Aboadze Thermal Plant Complex to enable it to increase its generating capacity.

Based on the success story so far, the GGC board thanked its stakeholders and company  staff for working diligently to ensure that the commissioning process proceeded smoothly.