WAPCo completes cleaning pipelines

The Chronicle is reliably informed that the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) has successfully completed pigging and inspection of its 20-inch offshore pipeline from Badagary in Nigeria to Takoradi in Ghana.

The internal inspection of the 569 kilometres offshore pipeline was completed on Sunday, February 23, 2020, almost one month ahead of the scheduled completion date of March 20, 2020.

A deep throat source at WAPCo told The Chronicle that a significant amount of data was successfully gathered during the inspection, and would be analysed over the next couple of months to further provide critical insights and assurance of the overall integrity of the pipeline to support WAPCo’s continuous optimal operations.

A series of unannounced power outages in the country, following the shutdown of WAPCo’s pipeline for the cleaning and inspection exercise, have generated frustrations and anger in electricity users.

The Minority in Parliament, based on the rampant unannounced power outages claimed that the country had been plunged into the era if load shedding(dumsor).

This, The Chronicle’s source at WAPCo said, was not the case.

“WAPCo is resuming the transportation of gas to its customers in Benin, Togo and Ghana. In Ghana, the WAPCo is currently transporting natural gas to its Takoradi Regulating and Metering Station only.

“Gas transportation to its Tema Regulating and Metering Station will commence after the completion of the ongoing expansion works under the Takoradi to Tema Interconnection Project (TTIP), which is expected to be operational in March 2020,” the source noted.

With the completion of the pipeline cleaning and inspection exercise, WAPCo is better positioned to offer reliable and improved service to its customers in Ghana, Togo and Benin, in its effort to provide greater access to affordable and reliable power for economic growth.