Gas to Hit Ghana By December

ENERGY COMMISSION and the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAGPCo) have indicated the West African Gas Pipeline would be completed by December 2007.

Speaking to the Public Relations Officer of the Energy Commission, Mr. Victor Owusu, the delay in the completion of the pipeline on time was due rocks encountered on the seabed during the construction of the gas pipeline. Nana Akyena, chairman of the Board of Governors of the West African Gas Pipeline Authority, also said gas would start flowing by December during an inspection of work on the project in Kpone on August 3, 2007.

He also said repairs to damaged pipelines caused by a ship's anchor also contributed to the delay.

Earlier, militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta had vandalized part of the pipeline in Nigeria.

However, he stressed that nobody knows what the future would bring but with all things being equal, the gas would hit Ghana this December.

On the sale of the gas, the WAGPCo would sell it on a wholesale basis to companies who would want to use it. WAGPCo, according the Act and the agreement between the countries involved in the project (Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Togo) will be independent and profit making entity.

"Gas-using and distribution companies will then be buying gas from the WAGGPCo for bulk use or onward distribution to smaller users in industries and homes but the energy commission will regulate the whole sub-industry including the process of gas sales," he said.

The Energy Commission Act 1997 (Act 541) has established a Natural Gas Technical Committee comprising 10 members of diverse working experiences and with qualifications in Petrochemical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Law and Economics.

The Technical Committee is to oversee the development, implementation and monitoring of the rules, regulations and codes of practice for natural gas public utilities.

The objectives of the Division include are; to play key role, in the short to medium term, in the development and sustainability of natural gas secondary market; to liaise with GNPC in promotion, in the long term, the development and use of indigenous natural gas; to develop appropriate natural gas rules and regulations for the industry; to ensure that all natural gas service providers are licensed; to ensure that all natural gas service providers comply with the rules, regulations and codes of practice through effective inspection and monitoring programmes and to educate the general public about the nature of the gas, its uses and safety considerations.

The following draft rules and regulations have been completed and are currently before cabinet for approval for parliament for ratification.

They include Natural Gas Licence Regulations, Natural Gas (Supply, Distribution and Sale) Standards of Performance, Natural Gas (Supply, Distribution and Sale) Technical and Operational, Natural Gas Transmission Utility Operational Regulations and Natural Gas Transmission (Standards of Performance) Regulations.

Preparation of the following is ongoing: Draft Natural Gas Health, Environment and Safety Regulations, and Natural Gas Infrastructural Development Master Plan.

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