Ghana plans to commence the importation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by early 2017, the acting chief executive of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) revealed.

According to Alex Mould (photo), GNPC is in talks with a range of traders and the company is in the market for between 250 and 500 Mmscf/d of gas to be used to assist in the generation of power in the country.

“GNPC will be buying the LNG from traders, mostly on a short-term basis because there is an abundance of LNG. We are talking to Qatargas, BP, Shell, Woodside, the usual suspects, to enter into some sort of agreement with them,” Mould said.

Two import terminal projects are being planned in Ghana and Golar LNG has before now delivered a floating terminal to the Atlantic coast port of Tema but the project is currently facing logistics issues which have increased doubts as to when it will commence.

In 2015, Golar LNG and West African Gas Limited (WAGL) said that an agreement was made for the provision of the 170,000cbm newbuild FSRU Golar Tundra for a preliminary period of five years with the option for WAGL to increase it further by five years.

“First gas imports are estimated at end of first quarter of next year,” Mould told the Maritime Executive adding that officials will inspect the FSRU in September as hook-up plans are already in place to guarantee ship-to-ship LNG transfers.

The second terminal to be installed by the Ghanaian subsidiary of Quantum Pacific was initially scheduled to arrive by 2016 ending but has been moved to 2017 or 2018, as the company has been granted access to a terminal.

Anita Fatunji