A gas processing station
The Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGCL) has said it would not shy away from routine engineering and maintenance of machines and equipment at its Gas Processing Station at Atuabo in the Western Region.
The Company insist that engineering and maintenance works are only to guarantee the integrity of its processing plant and will continue to do so in accordance with international best practices.
“So how a section of the public feels that when we off the Atuabo Gas Plant then the nation returns to having power outages, this cannot be true. I have stated that there is a system in place which gives us the opportunity to have Gas from ENI, that’s a combination of Atuabo, ENI and an additional one that provides us with extra gas to generate electricity for Ghanaians.
“Therefore, despite the fact that we have off the Atuabo Gas Plant, as I am talking to you, there is still gas that would not bring any challenge to Ghanaians with respect to power generation,” the Head of Corporate Communications for GNGCL, Ernest Owusu Bempah explained to the media.
In October this year, the Ghana National Gas Company shut down its processing plant to Atuabo to allow for routine engineering and maintenance works.
The scheduled 14-day works is inconsistent with the previous shutdown, and this is to enhance the capacity for uninterrupted productivity while prolonging the lifespan of machines and equipment.
The works involved the installation of high integrity pressure systems, replacing small-bore piping and heat exchange cleaning.
However, the scheduled time for the engineering and maintenance works has elapsed. Since then, there have been speculations over the delay and its consequence on power generation.
This, the Head of Corporate Communications for the Ghana Gas Company assured that other reliable options are available in terms of gas supply for power generating plants in the country.
“Under no circumstance will anybody sit down and think that the processing plant is just there and it has to be there without consistent maintenance culture. It is very important that any other day the processing plant can be shut down because of consistent maintenance protocols that we need to follow, he added.