Construction of Processing Plant & Onshore pipeline

Ghana Gas Awards Contracts In January

By J. Ato Kobbie, Managing Editor

The Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) has assured that it is on course to delivering to the country the gas infrastructure required for the transportation and processing of gas from the Jubilee Field, before the end of next year.

It is therefore looking forward to awarding contracts for the construction of the remaining offshore pipeline as well as onshore pipeline and a gas processing plant in January 2012.

According to Dr. George Adjah-Sipa Yankey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Gas, the survey for the constructability of the onshore pipelines and choice of route to Aboadze and Prestea through Esiama, is being undertaken by Ghana Gas and Sinopec, with 30km of the 120km stretch completed.

“Hopefully, we shall award the contract for the supply of the pipelines in January,” Dr. Yankey revealed to The Business Analyst in Accra last Monday, December 19.

Even though under the Master Facility Agreement (MFA) covering the $3 billion CDB facility 60% of supplies and services must be sourced from China, Ghana Gas and Sinopec are looking at a company in the United States of America (USA) and another in Europe, for the supply of the processing plant itself.

“Each has promised to manufacture and deliver within nine months from the date of order,” Dr. Yankey revealed.

He said even before the plant is completed, the onshore pipelines would have been completed.

Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation arrived in Ghana early this month, after it signed a Project Implementation Agreement with Ghana Gas in mid-November, under which the former is responsible for the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) of the 150 MMSCFD Gas Processing Plant.

The Sinopec Group, listed as the 5th on the Global Fortune 500 companies list, with an annual turnover of $288.9 billion, has since arrived and been working with Ghana Gas towards delivering a functioning gas processing plant linked to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah in the Jubilee Field as well as to Aboadze and Prestea through Esiama by December next year.

The Sinopec team, together with Ghana Gas engineers, has since been reviewing all the technical and construction details of the gas processing plant and the onshore-offshore pipelines.

Sinopec, under the agreement with Ghana Gas, is pre-financing the ongoing work, to be re-imbursed when But even before the final approval of the $3billion China Development Bank (CDB) Facility to undertake from which the project would be financed, China’s leading oil and gas company, the Sinopec Group, is pre-financing ongoing works.

There are high expectations for the gas infrastructure to be in place in a timely manner by the time it becomes no longer safe to re-inject it into the field’s reservoir.

The alternative to re-injecting the gas at that stage would be to flare it, which would also translate into the loss of millions of dollars to the state if it continued for long.

The gas infrastructure project involves the laying of pipeline from the Jubilee Field onshore, construction of a plant with the capacity to process 150mmscf of gas at Domunli in the Jomoro District of the Western region, and construction of a 120-kilometre pipeline to transport the processed gas to Aboadze.

Technip, early this year, constructed the 14-kilometre deepwater stretch of the gas pipeline from the Jubilee Field, using the Apache II drillship, under a contract awarded by the (GNPC), while Intecsea-Worley Parsons Atlantic completed the FEED for the 36-kilometre shallow water pipeline.

“We are happy that we have got this ahead of the November timeline,” Dr. yankey told The Business Analyst upon completion of the FEED, adding “I’m very confident that we’ll be able to develop the required gas infrastructure facility to enable us successfully evacuate gas from the Jubilee Field, within reasonable time.”

He then indicated that Ghana Gas was getting ready to undertake a competitive tender to enable all companies that fabricate the products have an equal chance of participating, stressing on transparency that had characterized the execution of the project.

He indicated that Ghana Gas was working closely with the Jubilee partners.

“We are all working together to forestall any adverse impact of continued gas reinjection on the Jubilee reservoir.”

Costs

The construction and laying of the 50-kilometre 12-inch offshore pipeline from the Jubilee Field to the Domunli site for the gas processing plant is estimated to cost $100million, while the onshore 120 kilometre 20-inch pipeline from the plant site to Aboadze will swallow about $190million.

Dr. Yankey, had assured the country in an interview with this paper that Ghana Gas was determined to be meticulous and professional but with speed, to ensure the company delivered on its mandate.

The Jubilee Operator, has, since April this year been re-injecting about 80% of gas from the field into the reservoir, utilizing some, and flaring the rest. It was estimated that continuous re-injection of gas into the Jubilee reservoir beyond 18 to 24 months could threaten the safety of the reservoir.

Son of the soil

Meanwhile, Dr. Yankey, a son of the Western Region, has meanwhile been spending some time in the area, engaging the chiefs and people to assure them of the country not shortchanging them as far as compensation due them was concerned. j.atokobbie@yahoo.com