Page 13 - GLNG Week 02 2021

GLNG AFRICA GLNG

FRU arrives at Ghana LNG terminal

PROJECTS & A floating regasification unit (FRU) has arrived energy mix serves as a catalyst for industrial and
COMPANIES on site for Ghana’s first LNG import terminal, economic growth.’
with commercial operations scheduled to start The terminal’s use of an FRU twinned with an
in the current quarter. LNG carrier for storage is “innovative”, Reganosa
The Tema LNG project will take up to 1.7mn noted.
tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, enabling local “This system provides Ghana with all the
thermal power plants (TPPs) and industrial functionality of a large-scale FRU-terminal, but
facilities to switch to gas from costlier and dirt- with added flexibility, allowing it to respond to
ier liquid fuels. Its developer is Access LNG, a rapidly increasing domestic gas demand with a
partnership between Africa-focused fund Helios cleaner and more affordable energy solution,”
Investment Partners and LNG infrastructure the Spanish company said.
developer Gasfin. The contract award comes after financial
The FRU arrived on January 7 and was sup- close was reached on the project in Novem-
plied by Jiangnan Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of ber last year, following receipt of a $31mn loan
China State Shipbuiding. It left the Chinese ship- from the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund
yard in late November. (EAIF).
The terminal had originally been due to start Most of Ghana’s TPPs run on light crude
receiving gas in mid-2020 but its launch was oil and fuel source, making them both ineffi- The terminal’s
delayed, in part because of disruptions caused cient and expensive. The government wants
by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Its to expand the role of gas to bring down energy use of an FRU
LNG will be supplied by Royal Dutch Shell under costs, and increase access to reliable power sup-
a long-term contract, while regasified volumes ply. The lack of stable electricity supply has been twinned with
will be sold to Ghana National Petroleum Corp. a major impediment to economic growth in the
(GNPC) for onward delivery to customers. country. an LNG carrier
Spanish LNG terminal operator Reganosa Ghana first began developing its gas market for storage is
also reported on January 8 that it had obtained in 2008 by importing pipeline gas from Nigeria,
a contract to operate and maintain the terminal. via the West African Gas Pipeline. But supplies “innovative”,
The contract covers the FRU and an LNG carrier have not lived up to expectations, with Nigerian
that will serve as a floating storage unit (FSU), suppliers often failing to provide contracted Reganosa noted.
along with a 6-km gas pipeline and a pressure volumes.
reduction and metering station connected to the There have been a number of attempts to
existing pipeline network. advance LNG import projects in the country
“The Tema LNG terminal project supports over the years, but so far, the Tema LNG scheme
Ghana’s ambitions to continue on its trajectory as is the only one to have got off the ground. In
one of the fasting growing economies in Africa, addition to LNG imports, the country has
by delivering the energy infrastructure to sup- looked to develop its own gas reserves, including
port accelerated industrialisation,” Helios part- at the Tullow-operated Jubilee field, launch in
ner Ogdemi Ofuya commented. “As evidenced 2014, the TEN deposits, which came on stream
in similar fast-growing economies in Asia and in 2016, and the Sankofa field, which saw first
Latin America, the introduction of LNG into the gas in 2018.™

Week 02 15•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13