West African gas pipeline

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The West African Gas Pipeline ( English West African Gas Pipeline ) (WAGP) is a largely off the West African coast extending submerged pipeline system . It supplies the states of Benin , Togo and Ghana with natural gas from Nigeria .

history

As early as 1982, the West African Economic Community (Ecowas) proposed the construction of a corresponding gas pipeline without this having been implemented. The specific reason for the construction was an energy crisis that hit Benin, Togo and Ghana in 1997 and 1998. In August 1998, the three countries, Nigeria as a potential supplier, and the energy companies Chevron and Shell , decided to commission a feasibility study . As a result, the four participating states agreed to implement the project. Construction began in 2005 and was completed in 2006. Commissioning should have taken place in December 2007, but was delayed several times, among other things because the feeder lines in Nigeria were defective. In December 2008 natural gas reached its end point in Ghana for the first time, and in March 2011 the plant went into commercial operation.

course

The pipeline starts at the Itoki Natural Gas Export Terminal . Here there is a connection to the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline (ELP), which was completed in 1989 and feeds WAGP with natural gas from the Escravos area . The WAGP initially leads over 56 kilometers in a south-westerly direction before diving into the Gulf of Guinea , a tributary of the Atlantic , near Lagos . After a few kilometers, it bends west and follows the coastline at a distance of between 6.5 and 32.5 kilometers and an average depth of 35 meters. After a stretch of 569 kilometers under water, the main route ends east of Takoradi at the Takoradi Power Plant . Three submarine branches lead to Tema (14 km), Lomé (19 km) and Cotonou (13 km). The total length of the system is 678 kilometers.

An extension of the route along the African coast to Morocco as an Africa-Atlantic pipeline is planned. On its way, it should also supply the other countries on the African coast.

Technical specifications

The main submarine route is approximately 0.5 m (20 inches ) in diameter  , the branches to Tema approximately 0.46 m (18 inches) and to Cotonou and Lome approximately 0.2 m (8 inches). The initial overland portion is approximately 0.76 m (30 inches) in diameter. The transport performance was initially 170 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), in 2017 it was 474 mmscfd. Purified and compressed natural gas is transported: 85% of this is intended for electricity generation, the rest for other industrial needs.

Ownership

The owner and operator is West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) based in the Ghanaian capital Accra , a joint venture made up of private and state-owned companies . Owners are as of mid-2017:

The responsible supervisory authority is the West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA) based in Abuja .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Bernd Schröder: Pipeline dreams in Rabat. Telepolis , June 26, 2017, accessed the same day.
  2. ↑ Ghana awaits completion of the gas pipeline project. Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections, September 19, 2006, accessed June 26, 2017
  3. ↑ Kwasi Kpodo: West African gas pipeline delayed till April-MD. Reuters , February 19, 2008, accessed June 26, 2017
  4. ↑ a b Information and timeline on the website of the supervisory authority WAGPA, accessed on June 26, 2017 (English)