Atuabo Gas plant to undergo maintenance:VRA assures public of adequate fuel stock

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has assured the public that it has enough fuel stock to operate its plants at the Aboadze Power Enclave as the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) prepares a shutdown for its second mandatory maintenance at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.

The Atuabo Plant is scheduled to be temporarily shut down after operating more than 8,000 hours since it commenced functioning in the last quarter of 2014.

Duration

The planned mandatory maintenance, according to the Corporate Communications Manager of Ghana Gas, Mr Alfred Ogbamey, would commence on Friday, January 15, 2016. It is expected to last 14 days.

He said the scheduled planned maintenance was the second since lean gas and associated liquids production began at the plant in Atuabo in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.

The maintenance, he explained, was required by the original equipment manufacturers and vendors for the maintenance of certain critical components in the gas processing plant on a periodic basis.

“The move is also to facilitate warranty assurance on the installed equipment and the validity of our operating insurance cover,” he said.

According to Mr Ogbamey, Ghana Gas was constantly engaged with all the relevant stakeholders, including the VRA, to ensure a smooth implementation and completion of the planned maintenance works.

Impact

A source close to the VRA explained that maintenance and safety cultures were very important to the operations of the power and petroleum industries and reaching mandatory hours and halting for inspection and maintenance was critical in the industry.

It was, therefore, important to ensure that as required by the inter-operability, the stakeholders were able to exchange and make use of information to keep the system running.

It said with the available information to all stakeholders enabling them enough time to prepare, the system would operate without any difficulty.

Standards cubic feet of gas

Ghana Gas currently supplies gas to the power plants at the Aboadze Power Enclave with a daily shipment of about 115 million standard cubic feet (MMSCF).

The gas supplied to Aboadze is used to generate more than 630 megawatts of power through thermal energy.

The source explained that for the two weeks mandatory maintenance, the plants would not lie idle, as the units would be switched to light crude.

“We must say that planned shutdown of the fuel system always creates panic among users of power. However, the system will run as expected during the period of the shutdown,” it said.

Lead operator

The upstream gas suppliers, Tullow Ghana and the Jubilee Partners, have also indicated their readiness to ensure a smooth implementation and completion of the planned maintenance works.

Information picked by the Daily Graphic indicated that after Ghana Gas, the offshore production platform, FPSO-Kwame Nkrumah, is also expected to go through a similar operation in March.

The move is to ensure an enhanced operation of the platform when work is completed.