New gas pipeline in Africa

9 August 2010

The West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) is now supplying gas to Ghana. The first deliveries, on 20 March, followed 28 years of work and negotiations. However, the event was discreet for fear of sabotage.

For the moment, the gas pipeline is only delivering 0.8 to 1.5 million cubic metres of gas per day, which is just a fraction of its capacity of 4.8 million cubic metres. This flow rate will not be attained until the entry into service of a compression station in the Nigerian port of Lagos.

The WAGP should reduce the waste of gas in the region. Until now, the extraction of petroleum in Nigeria has been done essentially by using flares, which resulted in the loss of 19 billion cubic metres of gas every year.

The gas pipeline, which is 678 kilometres long, runs via Benin and Togo. The West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited, which has invested nearly 760 million euros in the project, is running it. The gas will be used mainly by thermal power stations in Ghana.

Category: Energy