Ghana Gas shuts plant over Tullow gas supply disruption

State-run Ghana Gas Company has shut down its Atuabo gas processing plant due to an unexpected disruption of gas supplies from the offshore Jubilee field operated by Tullow Oil, the plant's director said on Tuesday.

George Yankey told Reuters that Tullow had informed the plant of the disruption on its floating production vessel. Gas supplies were cut on July 3 and there was no indication when they would resume, he said.

"Our plant and other systems are in good health but we've had to shut down due to an unplanned disruption in supplies from the FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading vessel)," Yankey said.

Tullow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Chinese-built, $750 million Atuabo gas facility in western Ghana processes around 100 million standard cubic feet of gas daily to feed nearby thermal power generators run by the country's main power utility.

The plant's construction was a crucial part of a government strategy to ease a chronic energy shortage that has contributed to a slowing of the economy.

Tullow holds a 35.48 percent stake in the Jubilee field. The other stakeholders are the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation with 13.64 percent, Kosmos Energy with 24.08 percent, Anadarko Petroleum Corp with 24.08 percent, and Sabre/PetroSA with 2.73 percent.