Trinidad and Tobago has expressed interest in building Ghana’s next gas processing plant.
The country believes it possesses the requisite skills and personnel to undertake such activity and develop Ghana’s oil and gas sector.
Currently, the Atuabo gas processing plant provides about 70 percent of Ghana’s gas needs.
The plant processes about 180,000 tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) compared to the national requirement of 240,000 tonnes.
The $1-billion government of Ghana project together with a natural gas export station to be constructed in the Jomoro District in the Western Region, collectively form the Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Development Project.
Cabinet has also approved a reverse flow of gas engineering system to connect thermal plants in the Western and Eastern enclaves.
In an interview, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Christopher Rowley also noted of his country readiness to improve Ghana’s oil and gas sector.
“As long as there is gas to be processed, we will certainly be interested and involved, but as to the level and the nature, that will be determined by Ghana. But we certainly have an interest like that in other plants that we build, that the national gas company in Trinidad and Tobago would want to be involved in that,” he stated.
Additionally, the Atuabo plant is positioned to process the delivery of 46,000 tonnes of condensate and about 15,000 tonnes of isopethain which will help reduce pressure on the national currency by reducing the import of these products now available through Ghana Gas.
On developing the skills of Ghanaians to benefit from opportunities in the sector, Dr. Rowley advised Ghana to invest in training personnel with varied skills relevant to the oil and gas sector.
According to him, this will position Ghana strategically for international opportunities.
“Ghana certainly has to pay some attention to the education system to ensure that when the opportunity comes for jobs in the oil and gas sector, those opportunities will come to nationals who are prepared to seize them otherwise you will find the economics dictating for companies to use skills outside of Ghana and in the international community,” Dr. Rowley stated.
Despite Ghana’s local content policy, many have complained about the limited participation of Ghanaians in the sector.
Though the country’s local content legislative instrument that was passed in 2013 is said to have provided jobs to about 7,000 Ghanaians in the oil and gas sector, some analysts believe more could be done to increase the opportunities.
Source: citinews