Ghana Gas is set to reinvest a significant portion of its improved profitability into expanding its operations, strengthening infrastructure and improving the reliability of gas supplies for power generation and industrial production.
The Chief Executive Officer, Judith AdjoaBlay said the company’s priority following its improved financial performance was to move beyond profit-making to sustained expansion and reinvestment.
According to her, the company needed to channel its earnings into projects that would enhance operational efficiency, create greater redundancy in its gas processing system and ensure reliable gas supplies to power producers and industries.
“When a company does well and posts such high profits, you ask yourself, what next? For us at Ghana Gas, it is what next? What next is expansion,” Ms Blay said.
She made the remarks when the Board Chair and Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Moses Asaga and Dr Shafic Suleiman respectively toured the Ghana Gas processing facility at Atuabo.
Ms Blay said Ghana Gas was close to commencing construction of a third compressor, which she described as critical to creating the redundancy required to safeguard the company’s operations.She indicated that construction could begin by the end of September, subject to the completion of the necessary processes.
For a gas processing facility, she explained, redundancy was essential because the system needed backup capacity to ensure that operations continued whenever one component developed a fault.
“We are almost close to starting the construction of our third compressor. Hopefully, by the end of September, we will come and announce that we have begun or cut sod for the construction of the third compressor,” she said.
Takoradi-Tema pipeline
The Ghana Gas CEO also disclosed plans to develop a major gas pipeline linking Takoradi to Tema, describing the project as a potential catalyst for industrialisation across the regions it would traverse.
She said the proposed onshore pipeline would enable gas produced in the Western Region to be transported through the Central and Eastern regions to the industrial enclave in Tema.
Beyond transporting gas, Ms Blay said the project could stimulate industrial development along the pipeline corridor by providing industries with access to a reliable source of energy.
“We are ready to expand for the use of gas for industry and for power generation,” she said.
She disclosed that Ghana Gas had already undertaken front-end engineering work on the project and identified the proposed right-of-way.
However, she said the company needed to validate the engineering work and right-of-way before moving into the construction phase.
The validation process, she added, would be followed by extensive community engagement and sensitization to ensure that communities along the route understood the project and its implications.
PURC assures Ghana Gas of support
The Executive Secretary of PURC, Dr Shafic Suleiman, said the Commission was impressed with the operations of Ghana Gas and recognised the strategic role the company played in Ghana’s energy value chain.
He said the visit was part of efforts by the economic regulator to understand the investments required to sustain the energy sector and ensure that critical infrastructure remained reliable.
Dr Suleiman stressed the need to protect Ghana Gas’s infrastructure and maintain its integrity, particularly the company’s pipelines and processing facilities.
He cautioned against unauthorised third-party activities involving Ghana Gas infrastructure, saying the company remained the country’s sole infrastructure operator in that area.
“We know Ghana Gas is the sole infrastructure operator in Ghana. We are not supposed to share that with any third parties,” he said.
According to him, the Commission was supporting efforts to build the technical and human-resource capacity of Ghana Gas while encouraging further investment in its infrastructure.
He said such investments were necessary to ensure that the company could continue to perform its critical role in sustaining Ghana’s energy sector.
Dr Suleiman also linked Ghana Gas’s improved profitability to its operational performance, saying the company’s financial results over the past year and a half demonstrated that it was performing strongly.
He urged the company to sustain its current operational standards and profitability while expanding its activities to serve more sectors of the economy.
The PURC Executive Secretary said continued investment by Ghana Gas could eventually contribute to reducing the cost of utility provision and, ultimately, the cost of power.
“It is for the interest of all Ghanaians that Ghana Gas is operational and Ghana Gas is profitable going forward,” he said.
Condensates boost fuel supply
The Board Chair of PURC, Moses Asaga, meanwhile, highlighted the importance of the liquid hydrocarbons produced by Ghana Gas alongside natural gas.
He explained that Ghana Gas did not only process gas for power generation, but also produced condensates, which had an important role in the petroleum downstream sector.
According to Mr Asaga, the condensates could be used to improve the quality of lower-octane petroleum products through blending.
He said the condensates produced at Atuabo were transported to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), where they could be used in the blending process to raise the octane level of petroleum products.
The development, he said, provided additional economic value from Ghana’s domestic gas processing operations and helped complement existing activities in the downstream petroleum sector.
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