WAGPCo: An example of successful PPP in West Africa, says Burkett

Michelle Burkett, Managing Director, West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPGCo), has described the company as an example of a successful public-private partnership (PPP) initiative in West Africa.

Burkett said that the company, with over 30 years of consistent commercial operations, had been committed to making a socio-economic impact in its host communities.

Burkett said this at a dinner with newsmen on Tuesday evening in Lagos.

The WAGPCo boss said that the company operates at a full capacity of 450,000 Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of gas per day, transporting gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo, and Ghana through 678 pipelines.

According to her, Africans should be proud of the West African company.

“In order to accommodate other partner countries in gas supplies, in 2019, WAGP was expanded with an interconnection to the Ghana gas pipeline system, allowing for gas from western Ghana to be supplied into WAGP.”

The WAGPCo boss said that the project would be commissioned in 2020.

“Facilities of the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited are available to transport gas on behalf of its customers.

“However, there are some challenges with supply from Nigeria, resulting in the shortfall currently experienced by offtakers.

“WAPCo looks forward to the speedy resolution of the supply issues between its customers and their gas suppliers in Nigeria and stands ready to transport contract volumes as required,” she said.

Also speaking, Dr. Isaac Doku, WAPCo’s General Manager Corporate Affairs, noted that WAPCo looked forward to the speedy resolution of the supply issues between its customers and their gas suppliers in Nigeria and was ready to transport contract volumes as required.

Doku said the company is connected to Sentuo Oil Refinery Limited in Tema.

“We worked with some key stakeholders to seamlessly execute an interconnection exercise at our Tema Regulating and Metering Station.

“We are pleased to announce that our Tema Regulating and Metering Station is now connected through the Ghana National Gas Company’s interconnected pipeline to the Sentuo Oil Refinery Limited facility at Tema to deliver natural gas to them for their operations.

“We are grateful to our key stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Energy, for granting the required approval to ensure that this exercise was completed successfully and, most importantly, safely,” he said.

According to him, although the company has estimated that its Tema Regulating and Metering Station needs to be shut down for 12 hours for this exercise to be completed, it took a bit longer in view of the complex nature of the task.

“The good news is that our Tema Regulating and Metering Station is fully back on stream and delivering gas to our esteemed customers.

“We place the highest priority on the health and safety of people and the protection of our assets and the environment.

“We operate an open access system for the use of our pipeline by multiple shippers.

“We promote the WAGP system as a key natural gas transmission infrastructure for all natural gas sources, including liquefied natural gas (LNG),” he explained.

He added that the company has its headquarters in Accra, Ghana,with an office in Badagry and field offices in Cotonou, Lome, Tema, and Takoradi, both in Ghana.

Supreme News reports that WAPCo is owned by Chevron West African Gas Pipeline Ltd. (36.9%); Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (24.9%); Shell Overseas Holdings Ltd. (17.9%); Takoradi Power Company Ltd. (16.3%); ‘Société Togolaise de Gaz’ (2%); and ‘Société BenGaz S.A. (2%).