Lead operator of the Jubilee field, Tullow oil, has dismissed reports that the Ghana Gas Company ditched the jubilee partners in the building of a bypass for the Atuabo gas plant.
There are reports that the Ghana Gas Company went contrary to an earlier agreement, where the jubilee partners were to create a bypass from the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to the shore at Atuabo and connect it to the pipeline to Aboadze.
According to the reports the bypass was ignored and equipment imported for the bypass is currently not being used, but the General Manager of Tullow Oil Ghana, Charles Darku dismisses the assertion.
According to him ‘under the ministerial discussion we did agree to procure certain pipes to be used as a bypass to facilitate early gas to the power plant and also gas supply to the plant when there is a disruption or when the plant is under maintenance. We procured bypass pipes, elbows joints and valves for use to develop a short bypass line. Those pipes were handed over to Ghana gas for installation. Ghana gas’ preference was to complete the commissioning because their team was focused on that and install the bypass subsequently so it is not as if it is lying there idle but it is in their plans to install it afterwards’. He said.
Meanwhile the Ghana Gas Company has dismissed suggestions that the Jubilee partners are demanding an independent audit of the gas facility.
This comes after media reports that the Jubilee Partners have warned against any hasty decision to connect the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah before an audit is conducted. According to the spokesperson for the Ghana Gas Company, Alfred Ogbamey the audit process for the plant is only routine.
‘After mechanical completion and pre promotions of any facility it is normal to undertake a safety audit of the facility .Ghana gas has known this and we have already started this process. You undergo that process with the view of ensuring the safety, integrity and reliability of the facility. It does not have to be a demand by any outsider and we already go through that process’.
Early on the General Manager of Tullow Oil Ghana, Charles Darku told Citi FM’s Vivian Kai Mensah he is confident the Ghana Gas Company will ensure an independent audit is conducted on the facility before it is commercially launched.
By: Vivian Kai Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
