Karpowership to mitigate the problems of gas evacuation in the region of the West

Company News on Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Source: thebftonline.com

2019-02-19

The country's inability to fully utilize indigenous natural gas from the Sankofa deposits has resulted in the monthly confiscation of what the government claims to cost ENI about $ 28 million.

This bottleneck would however be significantly resolved when Karpowership will transfer its 470 MW power to Takoradi in the second quarter of the year.

Osman Khan, 470MW Karadeniz Powership currently stationed at the fishing port of Tema, can take up to 50% of the natural gas that ENI Ghana is responsible for producing, told Bft, the general manager of Karpowership Ghana Company Limited.

The "take or pay" gas sales agreement between the country and ENI and the other Sankofa project partners means that the country, which is the buyer, has to pay about 140 million standard cubic feet of gas per year. day, not only when he uses it but also when he is unable to do so, without the supplier being responsible – ENI.

"The gas purchase agreement to be paid or paid would have cost us $ 40 million a month if we had not taken all of the 140 mmscfd. However, we take 60 mmscfd at Takoradi for the production of electricity, which reduced the amount of unused gas to 80 mmscfd. As a result, about $ 28 million is being paid for currently unused gas, "the Energy Ministry said in January, in response to reports that the country was losing $ 40 million a month.

It was also said that the transfer of Powership to Takoradi would also prevent the country from paying millions of dollars because of WAPCo's high transportation costs to bring natural gas from the western region to the Tema Power enclave.

Karpowership's floating dual-fuel Powership has been running on heavy fuel oil so far and, according to Volkan Buyukbicer, its much cheaper switch to gas use would save the country more than $ 240 million a year.

In addition, the use of Gas Powerership will allow the electricity taker, ECG, to achieve additional savings and help reduce consumer tariffs, he added.

Buyukbicer said the pressure on the government to prepare the infrastructure to completely evacuate gas from Sankofa is not relaxed, said his company was fervently preparing the site for their project at the Sekondi naval base. in view of the transfer of power, then even does its part for the delivery of gas.

"We feel the pressure and we work very quickly to bring in the Powership and cut the gas off simultaneously," he said.

Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan is the largest floating power plant in the world and one of 19 Powerships built, owned and operated by Karadeniz Holding, the parent company of Karpowership Ghana Company Limited.

Karpowership has entered into a power purchase agreement with ECG that allows it to generate up to 450 MW of electricity for ten years. But his long-term plan is to use Ghana as a "hub" to serve other countries in the West African sub-region.

Since entering the Ghana energy market in 2015, Karpowership has contributed between 23% and 25% to energy production in the country. According to Volkan Buyukbicer, the company considers Ghana "as a long-term partnership".

Mr. Buyukbicer said that, in keeping with this long-term perspective, the company believed in the development of human capital. This is why she has chosen to continuously support the education of students from basic schools in different regions of Tema, through scholarships and to programs of teaching and learning. training. learning material.

The company, he added, is very attentive to the country's localization program and is making every effort to fulfill its obligations in this regard.

As such, he said, outsourcing jobs to local businesses and suppliers, where capacity is available, is something that has been done since its inception.

Asked to comment on the energy market and its ability to provide reliable and affordable services to Ghanaians, Buyukbicer stressed the importance of long-term planning aligned with the industrial development agenda. countrywide.