The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has announced that the Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO), Kwame Nkrumah which delivers gas to the Atuabo Gas Processinng Plant, has been shutdown for necessary inspection and maintenance works.

The company said that the short-term shutdown of the FPSO signifies that power production will be affected.

According to a statement signed by the company's Chief Executive, William Amuna, the shutdown will affect gas flow from the Atuabo Processing Plant, and with time affect the production of power.

“Consequently, gas flow from the Atuabo Gas Processing plant to the Aboadze Thermal enclave has been curtailed and is expected to commence upon resumption of production from the FPSO,” he said.

He added that gas flow from the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), has unexpectedly reduced to 6.0Mmscf from 120.0Mmscf as a result of the damage of some pipelines in Nigeria. Following this development, their engineers have started the process of transforming all dual fuel thermal plants to run on light crude oil to ease the challenge.

“The conversion process, which involves cleaning of fuel nozzles and other preparatory work, is expected to take few days to complete. During this period, the power supply system may experience some challenges thereby affecting power supply stability,” Amuna told Business and Financial Times.

Anita Fatunji