The GNPC mafia has struck again at the Ghana National Gas Company! This time, they did it through the state-owned ‘Daily Graphic’ of Monday, August 11, 2014 in a seemingly innocuous news item headed “Jubilee partners demand audit of Atuabo Plant before connection to FPSO” published on page 65 of the paper!
The mafia’s strike at the Gas Company was understandable. It was a last gasp attempt to lay their greedy claws on the state’s gas for themselves. Their machinations against the company and against its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Sipa Yankey, started from the very day the late President Atta Mills placed the responsibility of setting up the company in the hands of Sipa. Sipa’s crime since then has been his refusal to allow some individuals own a percentage of the gas coming from the Jubilee field; he has ensured that till date, all the gas that will be generated from the oil fields will be fully owned by the state alone.
To get their hold on a percentage of the gas that will be generated, the GNPC mafia argued through surrogates that the company ought to be managed by GNPC. After the demise of President Mills, they tried to get Sipa Yankey out of their way by ambushing President Mahama at the 2012 IEA ‘Evening Encounter. When it failed, they planted stories in the ‘ public Agenda’ newspaper against the CEO of the company. It yielded nothing. Then they turned to “The Telegraph” for help but again, they flopped.
With a few days left for the Atuabo Gas processing plant to begin generating about 140 million standard cubic feet of natural gas a day, the GNPC mafia sense their dream of owning some of the gas evaporating into thin air. What better medium to choose then to strike at the company than the state-owned ‘Daily Graphic’ in the hope that it will delay the beginning of the generating of the gas.
According to the story in the ‘Daily Graphic’ attributed to one of the Jubilee partners, “The Jubilee partners have warned against any hasty decision to connect the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant to FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.”
The story goes on to say that the partners “…have also demanded an independent audit of the facilities at the plant before hooking it up to the production platform to avert any unexpected accidents or blowout that may endanger the multi-billion dollar onshore and offshore investments”
In response to queries by this paper to deny or confirm the ‘Graphic’ story, Alfred Ogbamey, Corporate Communications Manager of Ghana National Gas Company sent a statement to this paper, explaining the position of the company on the alarm raised by ‘The Graphic’s publication. It is published below unedited:
Re: Jubilee Partners Demand Audit of Atuabo Plant
Our attention has been drawn to a Daily Graphic report on page 65 of its Monday, August 11, 2014 edition, titled “Jubilee Partners Demand Audit of Atuabo Plant”, and wish to clear certain wrong impressions contained in the report.
Ghana Gas wishes to explain that it is a misconception to suggest that the tie-in of the FPSO riser to our PLET (Pipeline End Termination) could lead to “an unexpected accident or a blow-out.” The truth is that facilities such as the Gas Processing Plant (GPP) have in-built relief mechanisms and several layers of protection to address upset situations.
Ghana Gas will like to stress that the 58-kilometre upstream Offshore Pipeline and 111-kilometre downstream Onshore Pipeline have both been hydro-tested successfully at pressures higher than the anticipated operating pressures, with no leakages whatsoever identified. Various modules of the GPP have also been tested successfully.
We wish to note that after mechanical completion and pre-commissioning of every facility, the owners and contractors normally initiate an audit of the facility to ensure its safety, integrity and reliability. Typically, results of such audits are shared with stakeholders and remedial measures, if required, undertaken to address issues. Ghana Gas has already initiated this process by contracting a consultant to perform the safety audit. The Jubilee Field partners led by Tullow Oil were been duly informed of this.
The news of a request for an audit before the tie-in to avoid a “blow-out” is therefore a moot point. Furthermore, during normal operations after tie-in, either Tullow or Ghana Gas has the ability to shut their control valves to isolate the two systems, if operational exigencies require that. The well-head of the natural gas reservoirs are controlled by the Jubilee Partners. In the event of the tie-in, they would have to still open the well-head for the gas to flow. It is, therefore, important to note that the tie-in can be performed within the five-day period, with the well-head only being opened upon completion of the audit process in question, if need be.
By-Pass
It is important to note that Ghana Gas has been supportive of the construction of the by-pass system. In fact, the by-pass is part of Ghana Gas operational configuration as it provides an important operational relief in case of any upset at the GPP. It was part of the original construction plan of the GPP to be executed after construction of the first phase and at the time of the installation of the Turbo Expander component (part of the second phase) when the Gas Plant has to shut down, to enable basic gas flow to meet the VRA and other customer needs.
The truth, however, is that the initial connecting Tees that the Jubilee partners provided Ghana Gas were out of specification. A review of the design was carried out prior to the installation of these materials, and it was noticed that instead of providing Reducing Tees (RT) for 12” to 6” piping, Tullow rather provided Weldolet which does not conform to the standard for our piping class specification.
Accordingly, Ghana Gas wrote to Tullow and requested for the replacements of the Weldolet with 12” to 6” RT by July 28, 2014 for the purpose of consistency in design and safety of the pipeline. Significantly, Tullow only informed Ghana Gas on August 12, 2014, a day after the Daily Graphic report credited to Tullow’s own officials that the Tees arrived last Friday. Interestingly, the Tees are yet to be cleared from the ports for handing over to Ghana Gas.
Ghana Gas is also waiting for the procurement of a heater, a long lead item, by Tullow to address low temperature issues that may arise due to gas expansion along the systems.
In spite of all these challenges, Ghana Gas remains committed to the installation of the by-pass system.
Issued By:
Alfred Ogbamey
Corporate Communications Manager
Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas)
