Ghana's decision to use processed gas from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant,in the Western Region, for power generation in place of Light Crude Oil (LCO) has yielded an average savings of about US$42.6 million in 2017 and about US $206.4 million in early 2018, Ghana National Gas Company has revealed.

The rise in savings in 2018 was due to a 43% increase in the price of LCO at 84.7/barrel from US$59.3/barrel in 2017.

Since Ghana Gas began commercial operations in 2015, LPG from Atuabo Gas Processing Plant has, on average, accounted for 32% of national domestic consumption.

The year-on-year analysis (2015-2018) shows that Ghana Gas supplied 40% of domestic LPG demand in 2017, the highest since the commissioning and commercial operations, thereby, reducing LPG import bill by US$47million.

In 2018, the LPG supply declined by 2% relative to the 2017 performance due to gas substitution from ENI-Sankofa.

The Head of Corporate Communications at the Ghana Gas, Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah, made this known when he addressed journalists in Accra about the Industry overview, achievements, progress and the future of Ghana Gas.

Indigenization

He explained that Ghana Gas plant and its associated pipeline infrastructure are currently manned by Ghanaian engineers, after the Chinese from SINOPEC who were managing the plant left.

The takeover of the plant by Ghanaian engineers is saving Ghana about US$3 million monthly, resulting to a savings of about US$60 million since April 2017.

He added that the first major maintenance shutdown, which was done between February and April 2018, was also done by staff of Ghana Gas Company.

This, he said, enabled ENI to tie-in its pipeline at Sanzule.

Incident free

Owusu Bempah noted that the implementation of Risk Based Process Safety Management has helped to improve safety in the company.

He said, as result of that, there has not been any incident in the company.

"We also developed and implemented key HSE risks control procedures including the Management of Change Procedure in controlling HSE risk associated with changes and modifications to existing facilities," he said.

Health/Sanitation

According to Owusu Bempah, Ghana Gas registered 1,350 indigenes of Atuabo and Aboadze under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

He added that eight-seater water closet toilet and a mechanised borehole had been constructed for Allabokazo.

Education

The company has constructed four-unit teachers' quarters in Anokyi and Asemnda Suazo, while an Ultra-Modern Nursery School facility in Asemnda Suazo had been provided.