WAPCo to shutdown offshore pipeline for clean-up from January 20

The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) will on Monday, January 20 commence a clean-up and inspection of its pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana, and expected to be completed on March 21, 2020.

The maintenance exercise, technically referred to as “Pigging” is to maintain the integrity and safe operations of WAPCo’s offshore pipelines and prolong its safety lifespan operations.

Pigging comprised cleaning and internal inspection of the offshore pipeline using multiple cleaning Pipeline Inspection Gauges and Intelligent Data Gathering on structural integrity.

A statement issued and signed by Nana Kofi Oppong Damoa, the Head of Communications and Public Affairs of the Energy Ministry, said the shutdown would temporarily limit availability of gas at the Tema Offtaker facility and has the potential of posing a challenge to the country’s power generation.

The statement said the activity is consistent with regulatory requirements and very important for maintaining the integrity of the pipeline to ensure efficient and reliable operations.

It said the maintenance activity is expected to temporarily limit availability of gas at the Tema, Lome and Cotonou Offtake facilities since there would be limited gas supply for power generation.

In view of the impending challenge, the statement said, the Energy Ministry in collaboration with the Finance Ministry and other key players in the country’s gas-to-power industry have made provisions to mitigate the impact on the national grid system to ensure reliable and stable power supply during the period.

Source: GNA