The world-class Sankofa-Gye Nyame field – Ghana’s third oil and gas field – which will increase Ghana’s electricity supply by fifty per cent is making significant progress, says the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

A statement by the GNPC, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the field would produce 180 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, sufficient to generate approximately 1,100 megawatts of electricity.

The statement said the first gas is expected in February 2018, in addition to 30,000 barrels of oil daily to be produced from August 2017.

The GNPC, along with other state institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Petroleum and the Bank of Ghana, have been instrumental in securing the project, valued at $7.9 billion, which is the largest ever foreign direct investment into Ghana.

It said working with private partners, ENI and Vitol, alongside the World Bank, the Corporation is expected to deliver the Sankofa-Gye Nyame project on time, and on budget, for the benefit of the people of Ghana.

The statement said significant progress had been made in the first year of the project.

“The Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, is more than half-way complete and on Tuesday, 26th January, 2016 sailed out for the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore for integration of the oil and gas processing modules,” it said.

“It has undergone conversion and life extension at the HRDD shipyard in China, to meet the 20-year life of the field, without dry-docking (moving to a shipyard) for maintenance.”

It is expected to be completed and set sail to Ghana in the first quarter, 2017, the statement said. “The manufacture of sub-sea production systems and facilities are well underway. ”

According to the statement, five deepwater wells had been drilled in the field, saying, the success on projects of this scale and complexity required not only the commitment from GNPC, State institutions and project partners, but also huge logistical mobilisation.

Alexander Mould, the Acting CEO of GNPC said in the statement: “Sankofa is a game-changer in the development of Ghana’s gas industry. GNPC, the State institutions and the World Bank have been particularly effective in efforts to finalise the commercial and contractual arrangements for the project. “We are pleased to have made significant progress in just one year, but there is much more to do. We will continue to collaborate with these institutions, and in addition, provide access to use of project equipment, machinery and vehicles, to ensure successful delivery of the project.”

He noted that: “As the national gas sector aggregator, the GNPC will play an enabling role, with the necessary investments in the construction of gas export pipelines to be integrated with the Ghana Gas pipelines, onshore receiving facilities are necessary to ensure efficient supply of fuel to improve Ghana’s energy capacity.”

This would help provide electricity to households, schools, hospitals and businesses, and fuel Ghana’s economic development.”

The development of a robust gas sector is part of GNPC’s goal of evolving into an integrated energy company to support the developmental drive of Ghana, it said.

The GNPC was established, in 1983 by PNDC Law 64, to provide the institutional framework to support the Government’s objective of providing adequate and reliable supply of petroleum products and reducing the country’s dependence on crude oil imports, through the development of the country’s own petroleum resources.

The Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Law, 1984, PNDC Law 84, provides the regulatory framework for the exploitation of the country’s hydrocarbon resources. PNDC Law 84 establishes the contractual relationship among the State, GNPC and prospective investors in upstream petroleum operations.

The law also grants GNPC the right of entry into any open acreage to undertake exploration activities.

The Corporation started operations in 1985 and is currently a partner in all 15 licensed operational areas, while it is the Operator in the onshore Voltaian Basin.

The integrated Plan of Development for the project was approved by the Minister for Petroleum in December, 2014, the statement said.

This is an integrated oil and gas development, with two phases.

The first phase covering Oil entails, eight oil producers, three water injectors, three Gas injectors, a spread-moored FPSO, as well as a Subsea tie-back in a daisy chain.

The statement said phase two, which covers the development of Non-Associated Gas (NAG), would entail five gas producers, Onshore Receiving Facility (ORF) at Sanzule, 63km – 22 inches Outside Diameter (OD) Gas export pipeline.

The field holds oil and condensate reserves of 162 Million barrels (P50) and Gas reserves for the field is 1.071 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf).

Source: Ghana News Agency (https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2016/02/01/sankofa-gye-nyame-field-progressing-well-gnpc/)