First LNG cargo to Ghana set for October after COVID-related delay

Ghana is now expected to receive its first LNG cargo in October after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in completing part of the project's onshore infrastructure, a project spokesman said Aug. 11.

Tema LNG had been expected to take its first cargo this summer, but issues with mobilizing workers to the site of the onshore terminal because of COVID restrictions pushed back the first cargo.

The onshore terminal represents only 6% of the total project capital expenditure, but rules around COVID mean the work cannot be accelerated.

Once operational, LNG will be supplied to Ghana's state-owned GNPC under a long-term contract with Shell.

Shell in February said it wanted to grow its LNG market footprint by creating new markets, including being a first supplier of LNG to Ghana.

Supplies to the terminal are expected to ramp up gradually to reach around 1.7 million mt/year three years after startup.

The project -- backed by Helios Investment Partners and Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers -- has both the dedicated LNG storage vessel, the Vasant, and the dedicated LNG regasification facility, the Torman, in place at Tema.

Ghana is also a gas producer in its own right -- a mix of associated and non-associated gas -- but is looking to LNG for power generation in the east of the country.

Associated gas is produced from the offshore Jubilee and TEN field complexes offshore western Ghana, but is not generally used for baseload power generation, an industry source said.

Non-associated gas is also produced at the offshore Sankofa field, which is more generally used for baseload power generation, the source said.

Ghana also imports gas from Nigeria via the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), though these have been subject to frequent interruptions.

The WAGP -- which also provides Nigerian gas to Benin and Togo -- is one of only two transnational gas pipelines in sub-Saharan Africa, the other being a pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa.