Ghana Gas saves over US$250 million for using only Ghanaian engineers, technicians – Dr Asante

The Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGCL) has saved over US$250 million in operation costs by tapping into the knowledge and services of only Ghanaian engineers and technicians for the maintenance and operation of the gas processing plant.

Ghanaian engineers took over the operations mantle of the gas processing plant from the Chinese contractors, Sinopec, in April 2017, resulting in accrued savings of three million dollars per month.

Dr. Ben K. D. Asante, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Gas, made this known to the media in Accra during the Minister’s news briefing on Sunday.

He said the company had about 1,000 permanent and contract Ghanaian staff in charge of the control room and other operating units of the facility.

Dr. Asante further stated that the takeover of the firm’s operations by the Ghanaian engineers and technicians formed part of the indigenization of the gas processing plant and instilled confidence in the people that they could perform if given the opportunity.

The CEO of Ghana Gas said that since the takeover by the Ghanaian engineers, there have been three major successful shutdowns of the gas plant for maintenance purposes, which were spearheaded solely by the Ghanaian engineers.

Dr. Asante noted that there had been pigging of onshore pipelines and pipeline integrity management and that they had attained ISO 45001 occupational health, environmental, and safety management systems, noting, “There is no loss-time to injury.”

On the company’s corporate social responsibility, Dr. Asante said it had completed over 400 projects in areas such as healthcare, education, water and sanitation, and sports facilities across the 16 regions of Ghana, while over 80 projects were ongoing.

“As good partners of the community, the company gives back to society through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects, including education, health, water and sanitation, road infrastructure, support for sports development, skills training, and livelihoods empowerment programmes,” Dr. Asante stated.

He said the GNGCL currently supplied natural gas for power generation, thus providing about 80 percent of gas for thermal power generation, and supplied six percent of the lean gas and condensate for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), covering 50 percent of the domestic LPG requirements.

The GNGCL was established in July 2011 as a limited liability company responsible for building, operating, and owning natural gas infrastructure required for gathering, processing, transporting, and marketing of gas and gas derivatives for Ghana.