Atuabo Gas: Filters Ready For First Wet Gas To Flow

Installation works at the $850 million Atuabo Gas Processing Plant are complete and the filters ready for the first wet gas to flow from the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah in the Jubilee Fields. However, the connection from the Jubilee Fields to the Ghana Gas Company (GGC) pipe line is being hampered by two developments in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. These are how to retrieve a lost pig receiver and the rectification of a pipeline free span, both of which GGC inherited from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). Explanation Free span is where the sea bed becomes undulating, creating problems for the free flow of gas through pipes laid under the sea bed. The pig receiver is a mechanical tool inserted into the pipe line to clean the pipe inside the sea bed. It also enables the gas processing plant to pick signals about happenings in the pipeline. The Ghana Gas Company (GGC) is currently working assiduously to address the two critical developments which are having adverse effect on the schedule for the first flow of wet gas from the Jubilee Fields to the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant in July. Visit During a visit by journalists to the project site last Saturday, officials of GGC, managers of the project, said everything was being done to address the two remaining tasks to enable gas to flow as soon as possible. Under the project specifications, the plant is expected to start full operation in July this year, but GGC officials feared this might delay a bit due to the difficulty in addressing the two issues. Tullow Oil had put its associated gas in a reservoir tank awaiting the resolution of the outstanding tasks. A source at the GCC said they were working in collaboration with Tullow Oil to trace the pig receiver and tackle the free span. �We want to deliver a project that the nation would be proud of,� it said. The laying of pipes and the fixing of the pig receiver were works undertaken by the GNPC about five years ago in a 14km stretch of deep water. National asset The source described the project as one of the best things to have happened in the history of the country. It said apart from ensuring that the construction works were undertaken within the stipulated contract period, everything was being done to ensure that the dry gas that would be produced would meet specifications. One major installation at the project site is a power processing unit that would produce electricity to feed the plant. However, the project is also hooked to the national grid. Phase Two According to the source, phase two of the gas project would involve, among other things, the transportation of LPG from Atuabo to Tema by vessels.