Ernest Owusu Bempah addressed the media
The Ghana National Gas Company has attributed the delay in the operational works of the processing plant at Atuabo in the Western Region after its two-week of routine maintenance, to a leakage detected during the testing and commissioning process of the plant.
It would be recalled that the Gas processing plant was shut down on October 4, 2021, to commence two-week routine maintenance works.
However, the plant could not resume operations after the two-week maintenance works and some media outlets alleged that the company was finding it difficult to bring the plant back.
Setting the records straight, the gas company explained that the maintenance works were done, but a leaking gas to the gas heat exchanger was detected during the testing and commissioning of the plant and was shut down.
“But the engineers were called to duty immediately to deal with the situation, and they are doing just that to get the situation under control within the shortest possible time”.
Addressing the media at Atuabo, Ernest Owusu Bempah, Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana Gas said the processing plant can be shut down on any other day because of consistent maintenance protocols that needed to be followed.
He said “In line with Ghana Gas standard operation procedure, gas supply to the Atuabo processing plant was curtailed triggering the emergency shutdown.
“According to our engineers, it is a layer of control of activation due to increase leakage of gas cloud build-up from one of the gas to gas heat exchangers and they are making sure that those heat to heat exchangers are dealt with“, he said.
Mr. Owusu Bempah explained, “So today, if we give a maintenance timeline, and we feel that we require to shut down to make sure that everything is on point before we go-ahead to bring back the plant, we can do so”.
For his part, Robert Lartey, General Manager In-charge of Operations at Ghana Gas said the local engineers have done a lot to improve on the efficiency and reliability of the plant adding “So we are not going to put revenue over safety”.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Atuabo