Atuabo Gas Plant

Last updated
Atuabo Gas Plant
Atuabo Gas Plant of the Ghana Gas Company.png
Atuabo Gas Plant
Ghana adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Ghana
Africa location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Atuabo Gas Plant (Africa)
General information
Type Natural Gas Processing Plant
Location Atuabo, Western Region
Coordinates 4°58′43″N2°31′51″W / 4.97865°N 2.53094°W / 4.97865; -2.53094
Current tenants Ghana Gas Company
Construction startedJuly 2011
CompletedJanuary 2016
OwnerGovernment of Ghana

Atuabo Gas Plant is the Natural Gas Processing Plant of the Ghana Gas Company located at Atuabo, a small coastal community, in the Nzemaland (Ellembele District) of the Western Region in Ghana. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Construction of the Atuabo Gas Plant started in July 2011 as part of a national initiative called the Western Corridor Gas Project to establish an integrated gas processing infrastructure that sources natural gas from Ghana's foremost oil field, the Jubilee Oil Field, and other oil fields (TEN) and processing into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic use while contributing significant megawatts (MW) to support Ghana's energy supply. [3] [4] Prior to the operationalization of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant, Ghana's Jubilee Field was simply flaring the associated gas to the oil being produced. [5]

Before the construction of the Atuabo Gas Plant, Ghana sourced all of its natural gas from Nigeria through the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). Natural gas imports from Nigeria became unreliable, partially as a result of feedstock constraints in Nigeria, but also because Ghana was unable to meet its debt obligations to WAGP company on time resulting in a temporal suspension of gas exports to Ghana in June 2016. [6] Thus, the investment into this natural gas processing plant was in part to also provide a vital cushion for the unreliable gas supply from Nigeria to feed Ghana's thermal plants. [7]

The project was financed through a US$ 3 billion Master Facility Agreement from the China Development Bank (CDB) and the Chinese government and constructed by UNIPEC, is a subsidiary of Sinopec, a Chinese Petroleum Company. [8] [9] The plant was expected to be in full operation by 2016 but due to lack of funds, the project suffered delays in completion, missing several completion deadlines. In 2014, construction was halted for close to 10 months considering the fact that the disbursement of the CDB facility had been slow. [10]

Besides financial constraints, land dispute issues played a key role in drawing back the completion project. in June 2014, a high placed a 14-day injunction on construction works after the Eastern Nzema Traditional Council petitioned the courts citing that the Ghana Gas Company had failed to lawfully acquire the 300-acre land from the traditional authority, for the purposes of constructing a natural gas processing plant. [10] Construction of the plant displaced about 120 farmers in three communities; Atuabo, Assemnda Suazo, and Anokyi. [11]

The project's infrastructure was mechanically completed in November, 2014 and fully commissioned in April, 2015. [12]

Operations and contributions to Ghana's energy supply

The plant is now a source of reliable gas supply for the Aboadze Thermal Plant to generate electricity to supplement power needs of Ghanaian homes and businesses which hitherto heavily relied on power from the Akosombo hydroelectric power plant. [13] According to the Ghana National Gas Company, the Atuabo Gas plant has a design capacity of 150 MMScfd and normal operating capacity of 120 MMScfd [14] but by January 2021, it had tripled its production capacity from 90 million standard cubic metres per day in 2016 to 300 million standard cubic metres per day. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar Energy Generating Systems</span> Concentrated solar thermal power station in the Mojave Desert of California

Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is a concentrated solar power plant in California, United States. With the combined capacity from three separate locations at 354 megawatt (MW), it was once the world's second largest solar thermal energy generating facility, until the commissioning of the even larger Ivanpah facility in 2014. It consisted of nine solar power plants in California's Mojave Desert, where insolation is among the best available in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonatrach</span> Oil and gas company of Algeria

Sonatrach is the national state-owned oil company of Algeria. Founded in 1963, it is known today to be the largest company in Africa with 154 subsidiaries, and often referred as the first African oil "major". In 2021, Sonatrach was the seventh largest gas company in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in the United States</span>

Most of the energy in the United States came from fossil fuels in 2021, as 36% of the nation's energy originated from petroleum, 32% from natural gas, and 11% from coal. Electricity from nuclear power supplied 8% and renewable energy supplied 12%, which includes biomass, wind, hydro, solar and geothermal.

The West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) is a natural gas pipeline to supply gas from Nigeria's Escravos region of the Niger Delta area to Benin, Togo and Ghana. It is the first regional natural gas transmission system in sub-Saharan Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Iran</span> Overview of the production, consumption, import and export of energy and electricity in Iran

Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves and the 2nd largest natural gas reserves in the world. The nation is a member of OPEC, and generates approximately 50% of state revenue through oil exports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electricity sector in Ghana</span>

Ghana generates electric power from hydropower, fossil-fuel, and renewable energy sources. Electricity generation is one of the key factors in order to achieve the development of the Ghanaian national economy, with aggressive and rapid industrialisation; Ghana's national electric energy consumption was 265 kilowatt hours per capita in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Armenia</span> Overview of the production, consumption, import and export of energy and electricity in Armenia

Energy in Armenia is mostly from natural gas. Armenia has no proven reserves of oil or natural gas and currently imports most of its gas from Russia. The Iran-Armenia Natural Gas Pipeline has the capacity to equal imports from Russia.

Benin is a coastal country located in the Gulf of Guinea in Western Africa, which is a resource rich region. Energy in Benin has a diverse energy mix and takes several forms including: solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, fossil resources, and mineral resources. Out of this energy mix, about 60% of energy comes from biomass. Benin is also dependent on energy imports from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. While power plants and other energy facilities were built in the 1950s and 1960s, the lack of investment has led to deterioration over time. Similarly, its location in the Gulf of Guinea has led to an attempt of oil production starting in the late 1980s. However, due to unprofitable operations, oil production halted in 1998.

Energy in Equatorial Guinea is an industry with plenty of potential, especially in the fields of oil and natural gas. However, production has been declining in recent years due to under-investment and lack of new discoveries. In 2022, the country produced less than 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) according to OPEC data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takoradi Thermal Power Station</span>

The Takoradi Power Station is a thermal power station at Aboadze, 17 kilometres (11 mi) east of Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. It consists of three power plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Nigeria</span> Overview of energy in Nigeria

In 2018, Nigeria's primary energy consumption was about 155 Mtoe. Most of the energy comes from traditional biomass and waste, which accounted for 73.5% of total primary consumption in 2018. The rest is from fossil fuels (26.4%) and hydropower.

Atuabo is a town in the Western Region of Ghana noted for the situation of the Ghana Gas Company's Atuabo Gas Plant and the proposed Atuabo Freeport. It is one of many small towns such as Eikwe and Baku along the beautiful coastal beaches of Nzemaland in the Western Region of Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana National Gas Company</span>

Ghana National Gas Company is the state Agency that has the mandate to operate infrastructure required for the gathering, processing, transporting and marketing of natural gas resources in Ghana.

TechnipFMC plc is a French-American, UK-domiciled global oil and gas company that provides services for the energy industry. The company was formed by the merger of FMC Technologies of the United States and Technip of France that was announced in 2016 and completed in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petrolex</span>

Petrolex Oil & Gas Limited is a Nigerian company and part of Petrolex Group, an African integrated energy conglomerate. The company was founded in February 2007 by Segun Adebutu, a Nigerian entrepreneur. It provides services to the oil and gas industry. It is mainly involved in the refining, storage, distribution and retail of petroleum products in Nigeria and Africa. Petrolex is best known for starting in December 2017, the construction of a 3.6 billion dollar high capacity refinery and Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest tank farm as part of its Mega Oil City project in Ogun State, Nigeria.

The Dangote Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Aliko Dangote that was inaugurated on the 22nd of May 2023 in Lekki, Nigeria. When in full operation, it is expected to have the capacity to process about 650,000 barrels per day of crude oil, making it the largest single-train refinery in the world. The investment is over 19 billion US dollars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Tunisia</span> Overview of the energy sector in Tunisia

The energy sector in Tunisia includes all production, processing and, transit of energy consumption in this country. The production involves the upstream sector that includes general oil and gas, the downstream sector that includes the only refinery in Tunisia and most of the production of natural gas, and varied electrical/renewable energies. Renewable energy has been a strong point of focus for Tunisia as they look to optimize their green energy sources and advance their developing country. The Tunisian government has partnered with Russia and France in hopes of establishing nuclear energy as a viable alternative to fossil fuels and taking up a nontrivial chunk of the energy production in Tunisia. This is expected to be accomplished in the 2020s.

References

  1. ↑ Ansah, Marian Efe. "Atuabo gas plant resumes operations". citifmonline. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  2. ↑ "Atuabo Gas Processing Plant To Be Ready This Month - Herald" . Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  3. ↑ "Prez Mahama unveils Atuabo Gas Plant; Says it's a game changer". Graphic Online. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  4. ↑ "Ghana commissions $1bn Atuabo gas processing plant - NS Energy" . Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  5. ↑ "Government under fire for approval to gas flaring | Comprehensive Ghana Oil and Gas news, information, updates, analysis". www.reportingoilandgas.org. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  6. ↑ "International - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  7. ↑ "New gas plant could save Ghana $300 mln on fuel costs -official". Reuters. 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  8. ↑ Ablo, Austin Dziwornu; Asamoah, Vincent Kofi (2018-07-01). "Local participation, institutions and land acquisition for energy infrastructure: The case of the Atuabo gas project in Ghana". Energy Research & Social Science. Energy Infrastructure and the Fate of the Nation. 41: 191–198. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2018.03.022. ISSN   2214-6296.
  9. ↑ "Chinese-built gas plant critical to Ghana's economic transformation: President - Business - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  10. 1 2 NGUGI, MICHELLE (2014-06-09). "Atuabo Gas Plant in Nzemaland, Ghana". Construction Review Online. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  11. ↑ Asamoah, Vincent Kofi (2014). "Ghana's emerging oil and gas industry. Livelihood impacts of Ghana gas processing plant at Atuabo in western region, Ghana". catalog.ihsn.org. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  12. ↑ BFTOnline (May 28, 2020). "Ghana Gas' response to ACEP". The Business and Financial Times - thebftonline.com. Retrieved 15 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "Atuabo Gas plant to begin test-run by end of August". GhanaWeb. 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  14. ↑ "Operations » Ghana National Gas Company Limited (Ghana Gas)". www.ghanagas.com.gh. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  15. ↑ "Ghana Gas triples production capacity to 300 mscm/pd". GhanaWeb. 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2023-05-15.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.