The Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) will, from June this year, begin the supply of gas to the Aboadze Thermal Plant.

It will begin with the supply of more than 70 million standard cubic feet of gas a day (MMscfd) to the plant and gradually increase it to 120 million MMscfd by the last quarter of this year.

The Chief Executive Officer of the GNGC, Dr George Adja Sipa Yankey, told the Daily Graphic that the crucial post-offshore pile, laying survey vessel had been completed, while another vessel was currently carrying out trenching of the deep-water 45-kilometre pipeline to the plant.

He said another vessel was expected in the country on April 6 to carry out the final tie-in from the riser platform offshore to the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel, the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.

Dr Yankey, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic after a site meeting at Atuabo last Friday, gave an assurance that the project would be completed on schedule.

The main contractor, Sinopec, he said, was still committed to the March 31, 2014 completion deadline, with first gas from the Atuabo plant expected to be pumped on April 28, 2014.

Dr Yankey explained that although the gas plant was designed to produce 120 million MMscfd, it would not be immediate.

“It has to be gradual after the pre-testing and commissioning until it ramps up to the expected volume,” he said.

The Jubilee Partners at the meeting assured the stakeholders that they could contain the reinjection of gas, which the partners feared had the potential of compromising the integrity reservoir for some time.

For his part, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah,was impressed about the commitment shown by all the stakeholders.

"There are issues with tie-in to the FPSO, permitting for possible technical flaring, possible evacuation of additional liquids by the Tema Oil Refinery, among others, and we cannot wait until we get to the end of the project,” he said.