(Ecofin Agency) - Ghana National Gas Company Limited has announced the shutting down of the Atuabo gas processing plant for routine maintenance which will last for 10 days.

The shutdown of the plant which is expected to commence from August 31, is coming three days after workers of the Ghana National Gas Company Limited staged a protest over poor working conditions at the plant.

This protest was afterwards described by the company as illegal.

According to a statement signed by the Communication’s Director of the company, Alfred Ogbamey, the plant has been operating for more than 12,000 hours since pre-commissioning and commissioning activities began in 2014.

The compulsory outage is vital to original equipment manufacturers and vendors in maintaining certain critical components of the gas processing plant at intervals and to also enable warranty assurance on the installed equipment.

Ogbamey added that the Volta River Authority (VRA) and other clients of Ghana Gas including Tullow Oil have been forewarned about the planned maintenance.

Although VRA has been informed about the shutdown, it is however unclear how the shutdown could affect power supply in the country as the company lately imported significant volumes of fuel in order to cope with any deficit in gas supplies for power generation in the country, Business and Financial Times reports.

Anita Fatunji