In West Africa, a consortium of US power generation company Endeavor Energy, GE and partners Ghanaian oil trading company Sage and power producer Eranove have entered into negotiations with Shell for a long-term supply agreement for liquefied natural gas (LNG) for power-generation initiative Ghana 1000 project.

CEO of GE Ghana Leslie Nelson commented: “We are delighted to have reached agreement with Shell on the key parameters of a long-term LNG supply arrangement and have entered into exclusive discussions on a long-term LNG supply for the Ghana 1000 project”.

Nelson continued: “Securing a reliable, flexible and affordable LNG supply arrangement is a critical piece of the puzzle to make this project a reality”.

The gas-to-power project will have a generation capacity of 1,300 MW with the aim to generate affordable and sustainable power to Ghanaian communities, lowering the cost of power by an estimated 35%.

Ghana 1000 will be delivered in two phases.

According to a statement, the first phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2016 generating 125MW to Ghana’s national electricity grid.

This figure will increase to 750MW by 2018 and cap at 1,300MW within the next five years.

In addition, the initiative includes a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and other infrastructure necessary to make the import of LNG easy and accessible.

CEO of Texas-based Endeavor Energy Sean Long said: “Importing LNG offers tremendous flexibility for Ghana to manage its power fleet.

“As a lower cost alternative to light crude oil, LNG can be used not only on a long-term basis for new power projects, but can be imported on a spot basis to balance any short-term disruptions from Ghana’s domestic gas production or from diminished hydro production in years with low rainfall.”

Last month, Endeavor Energy and GE announced that they had entered into an agreement with Excelerate Energy for the reservation of floating storage regasification units (FSRU) which will store necessary LNG for the power project.