The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, is appealing to the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) to consider accepting a down payment and a tentative payment plan to settle its outstanding debt of about $75 million.
According to him, the current economic situation of the country would not permit a full payment of the debt owed WAPCo, which had threatened to cut gas supplies to Ghana after completing its pigging operation in early March.
WAPCo is currently conducting a comprehensive pigging operation—cleaning and inspecting its offshore pipeline—to ensure the system’s safety and efficiency.
The operation involves launching Pipeline Inspection Gauges (PIGs) from Tema to Takoradi to clean and assess the pipeline’s interior. The maintenance began on February 5, 2025, and is scheduled to be completed by March 2, 2025.
During a working visit to the WAPCo station here on Friday, Mr Jinapor was proposing a part payment of the debt upfront and a scheduled repayment plan for the rest.
This comes as a way to avoid power disruptions, as about 800 megawatts of power had been curtailed owing to the temporary suspension of reverse gas flow from Takoradi to Tema to make way for the maintenance works.
“If by the time the pigging is completed and there’s no gas flowing, we are going to run into a major crisis”, the Minister said.
He indicated that the state had to spend about $100 million to procure liquid fuel to power the thermal plants in an interim, a situation he described as not the best option.
“The effect is, we’re producing just enough to meet demand. We have no spare capacity, we have no reserved margin, putting a huge strain on supply of power”.
Mr Jinapor disclosed plans to visit Nigeria under directive of President John Mahama to meet Nigeria Gas to deliberate and negotiate a payment plan to forestall potential power disruption.
As of February 20, 2025, WAPCo has completed approximately 70 per cent of the maintenance work including replacing critical subsea valves at strategic locations in Tema and Cotonou, to enhance operational safety.
FROM KEN AFEDZI, TEMA
