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Atuabo gas project to propel more growth

The multi-million dollar Atuabo gas project is poised to become the number one revenue generating venture by the government, industry experts have said.

They said the project, when fully functional by December this year, could pay off the investment cost and other projects financed by the loan from China in less than five years.

 The experts say the  decision  by Ghana to process the gas to power its generating units was a smart move.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview, the Chief Executive of the Ghana National Gas Company, Dr George Sipa Yankey,   assured the country that the country’s gas would be delivered on schedule.

He said the investment was one of the best the  government had embarked on to ensure that the  country’s gas was harnessed to the advantage of the country, and that there was enough gas deposit to justify the investment in the infrastructure.

“At the moment, the total natural gas deposit offshore Ghana is more than 5-trillion standard cubic feet, and other exploratory works are still going on, which has an associated gas or non-associated gas,” he said.

 He said the first phase of the gas plant was designed to process 150 million standard cubic feet, and that the second phase in 2016/2017 was expected to increase production to 300 million cubic feet a day.

He said the gas would be sold and transported to the thermal generating units at the current market price.

Asked if generating units in the country would be in the position to consume  the volume produced daily, he said, “We will even be producing below the current demand for the thermal units, the daily need of the thermal units operating in the country is about 400 million standard cubic feet and we will be producing 150 million.

He said the authority  had signed seven memoranda of understanding with seven independent power producing  (IPPs) companies to supply them with the product upon completion.

Asked what happens to the investments of the companies that did not discover oil but non-associated gas  Dr Yankey said “ the government and Ghana Gas are very much aware of the motives of the investors who came to explore offshore.”

He said the government had been engaging with the international oil companies (OICs) to ensure that the companies agreed on the future of the gas as more discoveries were being made.

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu

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