This is because it is expected that a tie-in of pipelines from the western part of the country to the eastern part will be completed by that time.
Ghana Gas is supervising the connection of pipelines of its Atuabo Gas processing plant in the Western Region to that of the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) to transport gas to Tema for power generation.
Addressing the media yesterday on the recent power outages, Chief Executive of Ghana Gas, Dr Ben Asante was hopeful that the situation would normalize within the stipulated time period.
He said the 10 to 12 days are needed for effective interconnection with WAPCo, explaining that the tie-in is not just a matter of connecting two pieces of pipes, but a lot of work needed to be done.
“Before you are able to weld two pieces of pipes together, you have to make sure that your entire system is depressurised and inerted to ensure there are no flammable gas,” he noted.
He said the exciting news for Ghanaians when the tie-in exercise is completed is that the country would benefit from about 330 million standard cubic feet of gas coming from the Offshore Cape Three Point (OCTP) oilfield, Jubilee fields and Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) offshore oilfields.
Dr Asante said with the interconnection, it means that there would be a reverse transport of the gas from the Takoradi enclave to the Tema enclave.
Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Power, William Owireku Adu, speaking at the conference, assured that government has put adequate measures in place to supply alternative fuel such as crude and diesel to power generation plants to minimise the impact on power supply.
He indicated that government has enough fuel, contrary to claims that the government does not have money and is mismanaging the energy sector.
According to him, government has taken the necessary steps to reduce to the barest minimum, the disruption of power to the country.
The Deputy Minister also apologised to the people of Ghana for the outages.
“All I will say now on behalf of the Minister, the President, of course, is to apologise to the people of Ghana and to assure you that we are doing all we can to bring the supply of electricity to normalcy.”
The media team then proceeded to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) for an inspection of the level of fuel stockpiled for power generation while Atuabo is closed.
Upon our arrival, Managing Director of TOR, Mr Isaac Osei confirmed that TOR has what it takes to restore power when the need be, and it is in a position to perform its duties as expected.
The MD stated categorically that TOR has received 10,500 metric tonnes of diesel which was brought in for power generation, and the quantity was brought in by two of their Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs).
He added that 11,000 metric tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) has also been brought in and is earmarked for AKSA while 300,000 metric tonnes of light crude oil, also designated for VRA, has been received, and all these products are in reserve tanks.
“There is another consignment of diesel which is coming in for VRA and we have just started the crude oil through the pipeline as we speak to VRA,” the MD added.