Mr Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah, Communication Director of Ghana National Gas Company(Ghana Gas ) has lauded the efforts of the local engineers of the company leading to the successful shutdown of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.

He said the 21-day shutdown which began on February 1, was already in its 10th day but the company has not received or recorded any major complaint from its partners and clients.

Mr Owusu- Bempah said this during a media encounter in Takoradi to brief the media on why the Gas plant was shut down and the way forward.

He said shutdown of the plant was to ensure routine maintenance works and also to take up multipurpose projects with its partners such as Tullow, ENI and Volta River Authority.

Mr Owusu-Bempah said his outfit would continue to engage the media in the effort to provide reliable information to the public concerning the Atuabo Gas Processing plant.

Mr Maxwell Kwame Kally, Senior Manager Engineering and Maintenance of Ghana Gas, who explained the reasons for the shutdown, said the shutdown which would last between February 1, and February 25, was to allow a team of engineers to undertake a planned routine maintenance of the facility to help improve upon the plant’s capacity.

He said all stakeholders including Tullow oil, ENI, Volta River Authority amongst others have put in place the necessary mechanisms to address any concern.

Mr Kally said during the shutdown, expansion works would be carried out on the company’s regulating and meeting station infrastructure at Takoradi to help increase gas handling capacity from 135mmscf/d to405 mmscf/d, adding that the increased capacity was expected to bring an additional 270 mmscf/d capacity to the facility.

He said upon the completion of the maintenance works, major planned government projects such as the railways expansion project and the fertilizer production plant at Jomoro and key government industrialization projects would all benefit.

Mr Kally said the shutdown would allow a tie-in at Sanzule which would enable ENI to transport about 170 mmscf/d of lean gas from the Western power enclave to the Eastern power corridor via the West African gas pipeline.

He said a tie-in with Marinus would be undertaken for the delivery of Isopentane to be used for power and fertilizer production, which he noted would minimize environmental impact.

Mr Sampson Kekebi Doh, Senior Manager in charge of operation, said corrosion was one of the major problems of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant and that with the shutdown measures would be taken to address the situation.

Mr Doh said a 75 Km gas pipeline from Nzema to Prestea was ready and very soon gas would be supplied to mining companies in the catchment area.

He said the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant would this year reduce the flaring of gas, since most of the excess gas would be used to generate power and the rest channelled to the fertilizer production factory.