The Government on Wednesday assured Ghanaians of measures being taken to ensure the availability of liquid fuels for the maintenance of the West Africa Gas Pipeline.

The routine maintenance of the Gas Pipeline is scheduled to take place this January.

The West African Gas Pipeline carries gas from Nigeria to Ghana, which is used by thermal plants in electric power generation. 

Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Acting Spokesperson of the President, disclosed this to the media after a crunch meeting held by Mr Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, and key players in the nation’s energy sector. 

Present at the meeting were officials from the Energy Ministry, the Volta River Authority (VRA), West Africa Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Gas, Sunon Asogli Power, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Ghana Grid Company Ltd (GRIDCo), Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Ltd (BOST), National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and Cenpower.

This follows the shutdown of the Pipeline for routine maintenance. 

Mr Ofosu reiterated the need for routine government briefings on the energy situation to enable it to adopt other options for constant supply of fuel to the nation. 

“First of all, the government needed to be briefed.?And then we needed to hear what exactly can be done in the circumstance,” he said.

To address the situation, which was pretty urgent,?a technical committee had been set up, comprised of representatives from all the key players?in the management of Ghana’s energy sector.? 

“And they have up until the close of day today, to put before the government their roadmap?on what exactly needs to be done and how it can be done,” Mr Ofosu said.? 

“So, you can rest assured that government is taking the matter seriously?and will do what has to be done in order to avert any difficulty for the people of Ghana.” 

He stressed that the pigging exercise (maintenance) on the gas pipeline?should have been done in October last year, however, the New Patriotic Party-led Government requested it be shifted to January 20 in order to have sufficient time to procure the alternative fuels (liquid oils) to power the thermal plants within the period that gas would not be available.

“At least in about two national security briefings?that the then President-elect John Dramani Mahama held with the Government,?he asked about the status of the procurement of oils ,?and he was given firm assurance that they had put mechanisms in place to resolve the situation and that there would not be any difficulty, ”Mr Ofosu said. 

“It does appear that that promise was not kept,?and therefore the responsibility has shifted to the present government.?But President Mahama is alive to the task,?and adequate responses will be fashioned to address this particular concern.” 

Mr Frank Okyere, the Director of System Operations, GRIDCo, said the crunch meeting was necessitated due to the West African Gas Pipeline Company informing players in the energy sector about some planned maintenance activity?on the pipeline.

“This is a critical maintenance exercise after a certain period of running to ensure the integrity of the pipeline,” he said.  

The work requires that the portion of the pipeline, which sends gas to thermal power plants in Tema, be shut down for the period.? 

“The period they need to do the maintenance is about one month, hence the need for liquid fuels to cover the period,” Mr Okyere said.?

“What we came to inform the government is that, yes, there are some liquid fuels,?but it’s not enough to cover for the period of the pigging.” 

Therefore, he said efforts had to be made to get enough volumes of the liquid fuel to ensure that critical maintenance was carried out as planned.