The Ghana Gas Company has announced that the Atuabo Gas processing plant would be shut down for up to 14 days starting from April 20, 2015 for “planned mandatory maintenance”.

In a statement signed by the Chief Executive of the Ghana Gas Company, George Sipa Yankey, it indicated that the “planned shutdown is the first since commissioning and gas production began at the plant. It is a mandatory outage required by the vendors for certain critical components in the gas processing plant, particularly our compression facilities, which have been running for nearly 4,000 hours since installation and commissioning.”

The statement further indicated that “besides the required safety protocols, the planned shutdown is also needed for warranty assurance and viability of our operating insurance. Given the multiple equipment manufacturers involved, and the need for cohesive collaboration, we expect the shut-down to last for about Ten (10) to Fourteen (14) days.”

There are fears that this 2 week shutdown would intensify the power crisis. Stakeholders are however giving assurances that they would ensure that the process is completed with time adding that “Ghana Gas is in close communication with the Volta River Authority, the main gas off-taker, and with Tullow Oil Ghana, the upstream gas producer, to ensure a smooth completion of the planned maintenance works.

“We will update stakeholders as appropriate on the progress of works.”

In another statement released by the Volta River Authority (VRA), the power generator indicated that it has "been informed that the supply of gas from the Ghana Gas Company Limited (GGCL) would be interrupted from Monday April 20 to Thursday April 30 for scheduled maintenance works.

"The VRA has adequate Lite Crude Oil (LCO) in stock to operate the plants at Aboadze during that period. Accordingly, the interruption in gas supply will not affect the operations of power generation at Aboadze."