WAPCo Cuts Supply Of Gas From Nigeria To Ghana Over Unpaid Bills

The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) on Tuesday stated that it had suspended the flow of gas from Nigeria to Ghana over unpaid bills by the Ghanaian government.
The General Manager, Corporate Affairs of WAPCo, Mrs. Harriet Wereko-Brobby, disclosed that Ghana’s state power producer, Volta River Authority, owed Nigeria’s N-Gas around $180 million, while N-Gas in turn owed WAPCo $104 million.
The Federal Government and Ghanaian government, last year, called for amicable resolution of the debt owed to WAPCo and gas suppliers by the Volta River Authority’s (VRA) of Ghana.
WAPCo, a limited liability company, which owns and operates the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), is a joint venture between public and private sector companies from Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana with a mandate to transport natural gas from Nigeria to customers in Benin, Togo and Ghana in a safe, responsible and reliable manner, at prices competitive with other fuel alternatives.
The WAPCo Managing Director, Mr. Walter Perez, had disclosed that because of the huge debt, the company would curtail gas delivery to VRA.
The cut in gas supply to VRA, it was learnt, would negatively affect electricity supply to Ghana, which made the governments of the two countries to support amicable solution to the debt crisis.
VRA and its gas shipper, N-Gas, which is a joint venture company owned by NNPC, Shell and Chevron that deliver gas through the WAGPCo to Ghana, had been in discussion, with the support of governments of the two countries.
Perez had said: “Since August 2014, VRA has received natural gas and pipeline-related transportation services totaling USD 231 million through the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP).
“As of today, VRA has paid only USD46 million of this amount. Of the outstanding balance of USD185 million, VRA owes USD109 million to WAPCo with the balance being owed to the other parties in the gas supply chain.
“WAPCo has regularly engaged VRA, the Ghana Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), the relevant ministries, and even the highest level of the government to find a solution to this situation before it reached crisis level.  Unfortunately, these efforts have not achieved the desired result.
“In doing so, N-Gas informed WAPCo of the intent of one of its major gas suppliers, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), to curtail gas supply as a result of N-Gas being in payment default due to the inability of VRA to settle its gas supply and gas transportation invoices.