Ghana has no money to continue Atuabo gas plant

…owes Sinopec more than $400 million

Work on the multi-million dollar gas plant being built at Atuabo in the Western Region has stalled due to lack of funds to pay contractors working on the project.

The project, scheduled to be completed by the last quarter of this year, is to feed the country’s thermal generating units and the domestic market.

At the moment, the government, through the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas), owes the main contractor, Sinopec, more than $400 million.

This has resulted in some sub-contractors abandoning the project site.

The situation has been compounded by a vessel which arrived in the country to carry out post-offshore survey on the offshore pipes also leaving the project site.

According to official sources, the main contractor has not been able to pay $30 million it owes the sub-contractor.

The sources told the Daily Graphic that the post-offshore survey vessel left after several postponements of the dates the main contractor promised to pay.

The delay and other unplanned activities, the sources said, were likely to increase the cost of the project, which was initially estimated at $750 million.

However, installation and pre-assembling process of major equipment at the plant has commenced.

But, the departure of the post-survey vessel, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Gas, is not good news as the gas cannot be shipped to the plant if the post-survey is not carried out.

“There is, therefore, the urgent need for the funds to be made available to the main contractor to settle the arrears for the vessel to return for the completion of the work,” he said.

When the Daily Graphic toured the project site yesterday, almost all the earthworks and concrete foundation for the installation had been completed.

The initial phase of the project involves connecting the requisite infrastructure to the off-take gas from the Jubilee Fields, which is currently re-injecting its gas.

The main focus is to ensure that the processed gas is transported to the Volta River Authority’s Aboadze thermal power enclave to replace the use of the more expensive light crude oil.

Upon completion, other petroleum condensates and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) would be produced to feed growing demands in the country.

The plant is designed to process 150 million standard cubic feet of raw natural gas per day under the first phase. This will be increased to 300 million in the second phase.

Source: Daily Graphic