Yemisi Izuora
The Managing Director, West African Pipeline Company Ltd (WAPCo), Mr Walter Perez, says the company’s current gas transportation capacity has increased to 150 million standard cubic feet, scf.
Perez who stated this during the company’s Agenda for Vendors Forum, with its contractors and customers, said at present the company transports 70 million scf of gas to customers daily.
“Presently we are carrying just 70 million scf of gas, being the request by our customers but if the request increases, we will transport more.
“We have the capacity to transport over 150 million scf of gas daily but what we carry depends on our customers,” he said.
Perez said that vandalism of pipelines had affected the volume of gas transported before, adding that lately, the volume had come back to normal.
The managing director said the company was, however, having debt challenges from some of its customers.
“Debt is an issue, but the company is working with countries involved to resolve it.
“Also, there are challenges of non-availability of gas, and during such periods, our customers used to look for alternatives. but our suppliers now have more than enough,” he said.
Perez said that the forum was held to enable WAPCo to interact with its service providers. “We do this across countries that we operate in. We have done one in Ghana early this year, We will soon hold another one in Togo and Benin.
“It is to create a safety environment for our vendors and to let them know how we operate,” he added.
WAPCo) is a limited liability company that owns and operates the West African Gas Pipeline. The company has its headquarters in Accra, Ghana, with an office in Badagry (Nigeria), and field offices in Cotonou (Benin), Lome (Togo), Tema and Takoradi, both in Ghana.
WAPCo is a joint venture between public and private sector companies from Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana.
The company is owned by Chevron West African Gas Pipeline Ltd (36.7%), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (25%), Shell Overseas Holdings Ltd (18%), and Takoradi Power Company Ltd (16.3%), Societe Togolaise de Gaz (2%) and Societe BenGaz S.A. (2%).