Mr Sanjay Narasimhalu, Director, Commercial, Strategy and Business Performance, Chevron Nigeria Limited, says the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) will be the backbone in West Africa’s energy transition to a lower carbon environment.
He said this was because it connected abundant low-cost and clean natural gas to growing energy demand centres across West Africa to improve the quality of life of its peoples.
Mr Narasimhalu was speaking at the 10th Anniversary celebration of the start of Commercial Operations of the Company in Accra.
West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), owner and operator of WAGP, commenced commercial operations in 2011 by transporting Natural Gas in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana in a safe, responsible, and reliable manner to create value for our diverse stakeholders.
WAPCo is owned by Chevron West African Gas Pipeline Limited (36.9 per cent); Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (24.9 per cent); Shell Overseas Holdings Limited (17.9 per cent); and Takoradi Power Company Limited (16.3 per cent), Societe Togolaise de Gaz (2 per cent) and Societe BenGaz S.A. (2 per cent).
He said WAPCo’s past and future had been and would be possible through the dedicated WAGP team and the OneWAPCo team, who operate and maintain the pipeline.
He commended the WAPCo team for demonstrating significant perseverance and resolve under difficult conditions and delivered outstanding performance and service to West Africa.
The Director also applaud WAPCo’s safety performance of over eight years and nine million workforce hours without a lost time incident and WAPCo’s exemplary partnerships with the communities across four countries.
“WAPCo’s stellar safety performance and community relations are essential to maintaining our license to operate,” he added.
He said as WAPCo shareholders, “we will continue to support the company to fulfil its noble goal of enhancing the economic growth of the West Africa sub-region through reliable gas supply.”
Mr Gregory Germani, the Managing Director of WAPCo, said it was indeed gratifying to see many of stakeholders joining in the celebration of 10 years of commercial operations.
He said the celebration was an incredible journey of hard work, partnership, and determination towards a vision and reality of “Driving Regional Energy.”
He commended the Government of Ghana, the Ministries of Energy and Finance, the Parliament of Ghana, shareholders, customers, regulators, traditional leaders, and community stakeholders for the invaluable support through this challenging journey.
The Managing Director said from conception through construction, all the way through the operational phase of WAGP, Ghana had constituted a constant, integral, part of the WAGP, as represented first as the primary foundation customer through their key partner and shareholder in the Volta River Authority and now as a gas supplier in the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.
“I also salute the vision and courage of ECOWAS and the commitment it took to navigate the complexities of forging a bond of four diverse nations, with two private concerns, to create this outstanding example of partnership and collaboration,” he said.
He said the establishment of the WAGP with its guarantees of a cost-effective, secure, cleaner, and reliable energy for power generation had contributed to regional economic growth and development, benefiting families, communities, businesses, and industries across the region.
“For us at WAPCo, safety is a foremost priority and with over eight years and nine million workforce hours without a recordable injury, I stand proud of WAPCo’s robust safety management programme and applaud our OneWAPCo family, ” he added,
The Managing Director urged them to approach future operations with the same level of focus and preparation.
Mr Germani said in March this year, the WAGP set the highest monthly average record of 215 MMscfd delivery to customers and saw the highest one-day peak of 258 MMscfd.
He said given the history of gas supply challenges in the past, these developments constituted remarkable progress, demonstrating how gas supply prospects on the WAGP have evolved and reflecting how hard they have all worked to overcome previous vulnerabilities.