The Ghana Gas Company Limited (GWCL) has announced that the Atuabo gas processing plant would be shut down temporarily for a planned mandatory maintenance.

The maintenance, which is the first since commissioning and gas production began at the plant, will commence on April 20, 2015.

“It is a mandatory outage required by the vendors for certain critical components in the gas processing plant, particularly our compression facilities, which have been running for nearly 4,000 hours since installation and commissioning,” Dr. George Adjah Sipa-Yankey, Chief Executive of Ghana Gas said in a statement today.

Besides the required safety protocols, the statement said, the planned shutdown is also needed for warranty assurance and viability of its operating insurance.

It added, “Given the multiple equipment manufacturers involved, and the need for cohesive collaboration, we expect the shutdown to last for about Ten (10) to Fourteen (14) days.”

It said Ghana Gas is in close communication with the Volta River Authority, the main gas off-taker, and Tullow Oil Ghana, the upstream gas producer, to ensure a smooth completion of the planned maintenance works.

Meanwhile, the Volta River Authority (VRA) has assured that the shutdown will not affect its operations.

“The VRA has adequate light crude oil (LCO) in stock to operate the plants at Aboadze during that period. Accordingly, the interruption in gas supply will not affect the operations of power generation at Aboadze,” the Authority said in a statement.

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