The completed West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project is said to be under threat from mining activities around its Right of Way (RoW) in some communities in Nigeria.
Miners are frequently encroaching some areas of the project which is worth $1 billion posing a serious threat to its smooth operation.
The WAGP, the first sub-regional natural gas project in sub-Saharan Africa, is to supply gas from the Niger Delta region in Nigeria to Ghana, Benin and Togo to feed gas-fired generating plants of the three participating countries.
The Business Day publication in Nigeria reports August 11, 2011 that, encroachments on the RoW and sand mining at Paako beach, Ajido, threaten stability of the pipeline and constitute serious ecological danger to Iworo-Ajido-Badagry coastal residents even though the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Lagos State government has helped to check activities of these miners.
The publication cited the Managing Director of the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), Mr. Charles Adeniji as saying that mining activities on the pipeline’s RoW were among the challenges that the company had to contend with during the construction work.
Mr. Adeniji noted that sand mining at Paako Beach, Ajido and rampant use of the pipeline corridor as access road by local residents threatens stability of the pipeline, the publication said.
“We believe that with the spirit of the WAGP treaty that created the pipeline, all stakeholders can come together again to determine the gaps and forge a plan that will enable us run the pipeline at its full capacity within the next five years,” it quoted Mr. Adeniji as saying.
The project which was completed four years behind schedule has the capacity to transport 47 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas and under the initial agreement is scheduled to transport 132mmscfd.
The WAPCo is owned by Chevron West African Gas Pipeline Limited with 36.9%, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation 24.9%, Shell Overseas Holding Limited with 17.9%.
Ghana’s Takoradi Power Holding Limited has 17.9% as well as the Takoradi Power Company Limited has 16.3%. Societe Togolaise de Gaz and and Societe Ben Gaz S.A have 2% each.
The main pipeline is 20 inches in diameter with Cotonou and Lome laterals having 8 inches respectively while the Tema lateral is 18 inches and the termination point at Takoradi (Aboadzi) forms part of the main pipeline, WAPCO said on its website.
The Volta River Authority’s Takoradi Thermal Power Plant in Ghana, CEB of Benin and Togo are WAPCo’s foundation customers.
In a related story, the Head of the Ghana National Gas Company, Mr. George Sipa-Adzah Yankey, has told the Reuters News Agency August 11, 2011 that the country is seeking a $800 million loan from the state-owned China Development Bank to develop its natural gas infrastructure. This is to fuel the Aboadze power plant.
The infrastructure is expected to come mainstream by end of 2012 or latest early 2013, Mr. Yankey told the news agency.
By Ekow Quandzie