The claim made by the Head of Corporate Communications at the Ghana National Gas Company Limited, Mr. Ernest Owusu-Bempah, that the Atuabo processing plant is “doing almost 150 million cubic feet” under the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is likely to be incorrect.
“The major intervention introduced by the NPP government resolved the Dumsor. First, Ghana Gas, the gas flow Atuabo processing plant, we were doing 98 million cubic feet when the NDC was in power, today we are doing almost 150 million cubic feet,” Mr. Owusu-Bempah is reported to have said at a press conference here in Accra, on Friday, January 12, 2024.
However, checks made by 3news.com show that the processing plant, after its maintenance work in April last year, had a processing flow rate of 90 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd). This was contained in a press release signed by Mr. Owusu-Bempah on April 7, 2023, announcing the completion of the planned maintenance shutdown of the Atuabo gas processing plant.
“The entire maintenance activities ended in the late hours of Wednesday 5th April, 2023 ahead of scheduled date of completion. We are currently at a flow rate of 90 mmscfd,” a portion of the statement reads.
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According to the Ghana Gas Operations Records, the “gas processing plant (GPP) at Atuabo in the Western Region has a design capacity of 150 MMScfd and a normal operating capacity of 120 MMScfd.” This also makes Mr. Owusu-Bempah’s claim less believable.
The Deputy Director of Communications for the governing NPP and Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana National Gas Company, Mr. Owusu-Bempah, was categorical at the press conference that interventions introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration upon assumption of office in 2017 ended the erratic power supply, popularly known as ‘Dumsor’, that the country experienced under the Mahama administration.
He said that regarding the gas flow at the Atuabo Gas Plant, the Mahama administration did 98 million cubic feet, but today [January 12, 2024], the Akufo-Addo government is doing almost 150 million cubic feet.
The outspoken NPP communicator also claimed that “the Kar Power that he [John Mahama] brought into this country that is milking the country, today we are pushing gas there, which is also giving us almost 400 MW of electricity.”
