Ghana’s oil production to drop
The country's daily oil production is likely to drop from the current level of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 70,000 due to delay in the completion of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.
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The project is scheduled for completion on April 30, 2014 but it is likely to delay because the Gamma Ray Scanner, the equipment which is used for testing radioactivity, is yet to be delivered to the Ghana Gas Company (GGC).
The order by the GGC for the equipment is yet to be considered by the manufacturers in South Africa.
A government source told the Daily Graphic that if oil production, which dipped from 115,000bpd to 100,000bpd, reduced further to 70,000bpd, the government's expected revenue would drop substantially.
The production of oil is associated with gas, which has to be flared or collected onshore for processing.
Options
Regrettably, the Jubilee partners are considering flaring the gas because of the delay in the completion of the Atuabo plant.
Another option, according to a source close to the Jubilee partners, is to re-inject the gas into the oil reservoirs.
It added that the oil companies were not too comfortable to do that because such an approach could affect the oil reservoirs.
It said the partners were, therefore, contemplating reducing production of oil, so that they could also reduce the volume of gas associated with oil production.
However, the partners and the government are currently in discussions for a possible remedy to avoid further reduction in production which could lead to substantial revenue loss.
Visit
Officials from the EPA, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation have visited the gas processing plant to find out when the project would be completed.
Briefing the stakeholders during the visit, the contractor working on the gas project, Sinopec, assured the country that the first gas would be delivered to the Aboadze power enclave in the Shama District on April 28 and 29, 2014.
The Project Manager, Mr David Xhu, said the project was more than 90 per cent complete, adding that it was scheduled to be completed in 66 days’ time.
He gave an assurance that the technical aspect of the project would be completed by March 3, 20 14.