The supply of Liquefied Petroleum (LPG) at the Oil Jetty, an off-shore breakwater which receives fuel imports at the Tema Port in the Greater Accra Region, has been temporarily suspended.
The suspension of operations at the plant, which serves as a major area for supplying and lifting compressed gas, follows a damage to the marine loading arm. The arm connects tanker vessels from the Oil Jetty to load and unload liquefied gas. The absence of the loading arm vessels makes gas flow impossible.
MyNewsGH.com gathered that a heavy rainstorm is said to have caused the damage to the vital part on the Jetty.
The incident occurred on May 25, 2018, at about 1:0pm when an oil tanker, MT Junefrua Explorer, was discharging LPG gas.
As soon as the storm started, the vessel opened up and the loading arm went in the direction of the vessel which caused the arm to damage extensively, thereby cutting the supply of LPG gas.
The incident has been blamed on the failure of the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA) to give accurate time for the storm. The GMA was said to have predicted the storm to occur at about 3:00pm; however, it blew earlier, around 1:00pm.
Engineers of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) in collaboration with engineers at Tema Shipyard and Drydock Limited are working round the clock to fix the equipment for operations since about 80 percent of gas flows through the shutdown plant.
Officials say the shutdown of the plant won’t affect the supply of LPG in the country as a result of available supply and alternative measures that have been put in place.
The government is considering the construction of another offshore facility within the area to make it possible to unload fuel imports from the high seas in case of a similar
Bulk of oil imports for the country is currently unloaded at the damaged Jetty.
Responding to the repair of the plant, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Hon. Mohammed Amin Adam, noted that government is responding quickly to the incident to avoid a shortage of LPG in the country.
“As a government, we are very responsive and proactive that is why we have moved in quickly to restore the arm so they can resume the off-loading of LPG,” he said.
He added, “But I want to assure the people of Ghana that we will not have the shortage of LPG. There are alternative routes that government is going to activate through the NPA to ensure that we continue to supply LPG to the market. As you know, the Ghana Gas supplies 50 percent of LPG but this is below its capacity so we have to fall on them to increase supply. In addition, the old bauxite jetty at Takoradi will be re-activated. Let me repeat that we will not have any shortage of LPG to the market. This is a natural disaster and we are not sleeping over it.”
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli, indicated that government had a window of 7-day to fix the situation and all possible means would be explored to restore the loading arm.
In general, the Oil Jetty serves as a dislodging point for gasoline, cracked fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), aviation turbine kerosene, gas oil, naphtha and atmospheric residue.
The plant is a strategic asset in terms of its total assets and employment generation. It contributes to the financial and insurance sectors and security of the petroleum sector. It also supports suppliers, industries and builds linkages with academia
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Source: MyNewsGH.com
