Ghana’s planned second gas processing plant could help ease pressure on electricity tariffs by increasing the availability of natural gas for power generation, the Ghana Gas Company has said.

General Manager for Engineering and Maintenance at Ghana Gas, Ing. Maxwell Kwame Kelly, said although electricity costs could continue to rise as the country’s energy needs expand, greater access to natural gas could reduce the pace of future tariff increases.

“Obviously, as you grow as a country, things will go up. But the rates at which things will go up will be reduced, yes,” he said.

Ing. Kelly said the benefits of the proposed second gas processing plant, known as GPP2, should be assessed against the cost of relying on alternative fuels to generate electricity.

“Certainly, if you consider the alternative,” he said.

“If you consider the alternative to not having the gas processing plant, you realise that the benefit is colossal.”

Potential to cut fuel costs

Technical Advisor to the Minister of Energy and Green Transition on Petroleum, Ing. Dr Sulemana Yussif, said the additional processing capacity could allow Ghana to rely more heavily on natural gas instead of liquid fuels for thermal power generation.

He estimated that the switch could save the country close to US$500 million annually.

“If we switch from liquid, let’s say LCO, light crude oil, to generate power and use gas, we are saving closer to half a billion on an annual basis,” he said.

“That is huge.”

The estimate highlights the potential impact of GPP2 on the cost of thermal power generation, particularly as Ghana seeks to reduce its reliance on more expensive liquid fuels.

LPG imports could also fall

Ing. Kelly said the benefits of GPP2 would not be limited to electricity generation.

He pointed to the potential increase in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production, noting that Ghana Gas currently supplies about half of the country’s LPG demand.

According to him, additional processing capacity would increase domestic LPG production and help reduce Ghana’s dependence on imports.

“So in that sense, yes, it will maintain or reduce electricity tariff,” he said.

Benefits for oil production

Gas Business Manager at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Emmanuel Tamaku, said GPP2 could also help address constraints affecting Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry.

He explained that some oil fields are producing significant volumes of gas, creating constraints that can affect the optimisation of oil production.

Additional processing capacity, he said, would provide greater scope for managing the gas and could allow producers to maximise oil output.

Mr Tamaku also said the availability of a reliable off-taker for gas could strengthen investor confidence in Ghana’s upstream petroleum sector.

Pipeline infrastructure needed

Chairperson of the Ghana Institution of Engineering, Greater Accra, Ing. Dr Frank K Pinto, stressed that the benefits of GPP2 would depend partly on the development of supporting gas-transport infrastructure.

He said the proposed onshore natural gas pipeline would be important to ensuring that the additional processed gas can be transported efficiently to areas where it is needed.

According to him, keeping more of the money currently spent on gas transportation within Ghana could generate additional economic benefits.

The engineers were speaking at a Ghana Institution of Engineering Branch 4 discussion on Ghana’s energy-sector infrastructure bottlenecks, held on September 3, 2026, at the Engineering Centre in Accra.

The discussion focused on the proposed second gas processing plant and onshore natural gas pipeline, as well as their potential impact on Ghana’s energy security and economy.

GPP2 timeline

Preparations for the second gas processing plant are said to be far advanced.

Mechanical completion is targeted for the first quarter of 2028, with operations expected to begin in the second quarter, all things being equal.

The project is consequently being viewed as an important part of efforts to increase Ghana’s domestic gas utilisation, reduce dependence on liquid fuels and imports, and moderate the cost pressures associated with electricity generation.