The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO) is set to begin maintenance on the offshore segment of the pipeline that runs from Nigeria to Aboadze in Ghana, starting on February 5th.
Isaac Adjei Doku, General Manager of Corporate Affairs of the company, made this known during a media briefing on Thursday at the Aboadze metering station where he provided information on how the activities would affect gas transportation services and measures in place to ensure a safe and timely execution of the project.
According to Doku, the exercise will involve replacing the pipeline’s subsea valves and is scheduled for completion on March 2, 2025.
He said the company had begun installing the necessary equipment, including an effluent management system for the project.
However, the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCO) announced that the second phase of its scheduled cleaning and inspection of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) will soon take place. This maintenance was originally planned for January but has been rescheduled to better accommodate the interests of key stakeholders, according to a statement signed by Doku.
Doku explained that WAPCO had to clean and check the pipeline every five years in accordance with rules set forth by the West African Gas Pipeline Authority.
The February cleaning would be the third since the establishment of the processing plant and that the first cleaning was done in 2012, the second in 2020, and the third in 2025, he said.
He stated that the corporation would temporarily halt gas transportation services from Nigeria to Cotonou (Benin), Lomé (Togo), and Tema (Ghana) as well as reverse gas flow transportation of natural gas from Ghana’s Western Region to Tema in the East during the cleaning time.
In order to push the Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) from Nigeria to Takoradi, an average of roughly 90,000 mmscf/d of gas would need to be delivered, which implies WAPCO would be delivering gas to Takoradi. Dr. Doku said the company would not cease all of its services.
“WAPCO engineering and safety teams have worked to develop a comprehensive plan to ensure all activities are completed as safely and efficiently as possible,”he said.
Doku also mentioned that the majority of the activities would occur offshore at the two WAPCO facilities, namely the Aboadze regulating metering station in Takoradi and the Lagos Beach compressor station in Badagry, Lagos State, Nigeria.
“Our Lagos Beach compressor station is where the cleaning and inspection devices known as PIGs will be inserted into the pipeline, while the Aboadze regulating and metering station is where each PIG will arrive after traveling through the 569 km stretch of pipeline,” he added.
WAPCO anticipates minimal disruption to local communities in Badagry, Nigeria, and Aboadze, Ghana, as the majority of their work will be conducted offshore and contained within their facility boundaries.
