The Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has announced a significant enhancement in Ghana’s natural gas supply from this Sunday. 

Consequently, ENI is set to temporarily shut down its non- associated gas wells to upgrade and increase supply of gas.

Mr Jinapor, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, explained that during the period of the engineering works which would last for a maximum of six hours, ENI Ghana would briefly turn off its gas valves to increase production and offshore supply to about 270 million standard cubic feet (MMscf) per day, from the current 240 MMscf per day.

He described the move as a strategic intervention to enhance long-term power supply reliability across the country.

“This Sunday, July 13, ENI will turn off its valves temporarily to increase gas production to about 270 MMscf.

It means that we are stabilising the energy sector,” the Energy Minister said.

“Because the plant will be turned off for a short period within the day for maintenance works, we are likely to experience some interruption of power.

It is for a good purpose,” the minister said.

Alternative measures

Mr Jinapor further disclosed that although about 600 megawatts of power deficit could be created during the brief period, Sunday, an off-peak period, was chosen for the upgrade because of lower demand.

ENI Ghana would Sunday turn off its gas valves to increase production and offshore supply to stabilise the country’s energy production

He said the ministry had put in place alternative measures to deal with the deficit and as such, it would not expect any major disruptions to power supply.

Again, he said, based on technical advice from engineers, the government had decided against running thermal plants on liquid fuel during the short downtime.

Mr Jinapor said transitioning to liquid fuel would require extensive adjustments, including changing nozzles — a process that would be inefficient for such a brief shutdown.

“Based on the advice from engineers, I have directed that we do not attempt to run those plants on liquid fuel for that short period. It involves changing nozzles and a lot of work.

Mr Jinapor assured the public that every effort was being made to minimise the impact of the temporary power supply deficit, and therefore urged Ghanaians to bear with the government as it took steps to secure the energy future of the country.