WAPCo shuts down gas transmission today

The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), the operator of the West African Gas Pipeline, will shut down the pipeline for routine maintenance from today.

This will enable the company to launch its Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) to inspect and clean the 569km stretch of pipeline as required by regulation.

The process will cut gas supply significantly from Nigeria through to Ghana. The shutdown will also affect the reverse flow of gas from Atuabo in the Western Region to the country’s power plants in the Tema Power Enclaves where huge megawatts of power are needed for industrial, commercial and domestic uses.

The mandatory cleaning and inspection activities, which have been postponed three times since last year, will also ensure safe reliable operations of the facility in conformity with industry best practices.

However, during the process, technically known as pigging, the company said an average of about 90,000 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas required to push the Pipeline

Inspection Gauge from Nigeria to Aboadze would be transported and received by Volta River Authority plants at Shama.

The exercise is performed to confirm the condition and integrity of the pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana.

The major maintenance activities, which will begin today, Feb 5, 2025, are expected to be completed by March 2, this year. 

Alternative fuel

The last time the company was to have shut down was January 20 this year during which the state did not have enough fuel reserve for power generation.

However, Daily Graphic checks revealed that the government had secured enough alternative fuel supply to fill in any shortfall.

The General Manager Operations & Maintenance of WAPCo, Auwal Ibrahim, said the company remained committed to maintaining the proactive stakeholder engagement processes established during the project’s preparation phase and execution.

The company, he said, would continue to engage the relevant stakeholders on all matters to ensure the project's safe execution and success. 

The countries

Mr Ibrahim expressed the company’s gratitude to the governments of Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo for their ongoing support, saying WAPCo appreciated the maritime and regulatory authorities across the four countries, as well as its customers, shippers, gas off-takers, host communities, shareholders and all other relevant stakeholders for their continued collaboration and contribution to the success of this exercise and operations.

The pigging process is mandatory every five years to protect the integrity of the lines both onshore and offshore from Nigeria to Aboadze in the Shama District of the Western Region.
It also enables the operators to pick vital data from its intelligent pipeline inspection gauge for analysis. 

Safety, sanitation

Mr Ibrahim said because of the exercise, WAPCo had installed the necessary equipment, including an effluent management system at the Aboadze station.

It said it would prioritise the safety of the workers and WAPCo and had extensively engaged all relevant stakeholders to ensure a smooth and successful project, adding that the engineering and safety teams had put in place a comprehensive plan to ensure that all activities were completed as safely and efficiently as possible.

The general manager said given that most of the activities would take place offshore and at two WAPCo facilities – WAPCo’s Lagos Beach Compressor Station located at Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria and at the Takoradi Regulating and Metering Station – it anticipated only minimal disruption to the activities of host communities within the passageway of the pipeline, particularly at Badagry and Aboadze.