Phase two of gas infrastructure project ongoing - Sinopec

Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation says it has begun the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the next phase of the Ghana Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Development Project.

Mr Mushtaq Kaloo, Sinopec’s Engineering Advisor on the Ghana Early Phase Gas Infrastructure Project told journalists at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant, that the FEED would allow them to determine the specifications of the project, including costs, capacity, pipeline routes and other details.

He said this when a delegation of journalists toured the plant as part of activities to herald the celebration of the 55th anniversary of relations between Ghana and the People’s Republic of China.

Mr Kaloo said the second phase of the project would provide the requisite facilities for the plant to export Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) from Atuabo to Domunli, from where it would be transported by ship to Tema and also to bring in Liquefied Natural Gas.

He said the entire project has been divided into a number of stages and the first is to bring the gas from Jubilee to Atuabo, install a processing plant, supply gas to the Aboadze power plant, and export LPG and Condensates using the oil tankers by road.

“The next phase of the project is to export this LPG and condensates through offshore facilities by a jetty loading and unloading system,” he said, adding that the facility at Domunli would also have a 15-day capacity storage facility for the natural gas liquids, a feature which the plant at Atuabo does not have.

Mr Kaloo said it is important for the phase two project to be implemented as soon as possible since it is vital to the whole project and would present a much safer way of transporting the gas and liquids from the region to Tema.

He said the off-shore jetty system, which would allow for the gas to be transported to Tema via ships is the safest way to transport it compared to the use of road tankers since it remove the possibility of road crashes which may lead to explosions.

He expressed the hope that the project would be completed by end of October, adding that depending on availability of funds from the Ghana National Gas Company, Sinopec would be ready to start work on the second phase immediately after the FEED.

As part of the $ 715 million project pre-financed by Sinopec, under commercial loans funded by the China National Development Bank, the company is also currently about 20 per cent into the extension of pipelines (75 kilometres onshore pipeline) from Esiama to Prestea.

The work is expected to be completed by January 2016.

The Atuabo plant is currently processing about 100 million standard cubic feet of gas from Jubilee; about two-thirds of its installed capacity of 150MMSCFD per day.