The West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) has announced plans to commence mandatory cleaning and inspection of its offshore pipeline from February 5 to March 2, 2025, in compliance with regulatory requirements.
The company has begun installing the necessary equipment, including an effluent management system for the project.
The activity, known as pipeline inspection gauge (PIG), involves cleaning pipelines to remove debris, dirt and liquids as well as inspecting the pipeline’s internal walls.
The exercise also includes replacing subsea valves as well as conducting ancillary work while gas transportation services are temporarily suspended.
This exercise, which is done every five years, is a regulatory requirement to ensure the pipeline’s integrity, maintain its safety and promote smooth operations that align with best practices.
“WAPCo last cleaned and inspected the pipelines in 2020,” said Dr. Isaac Adjei Doku, General Manager-Corporate Affairs, WAPCo.
He explained that most of the activities will take place offshore at two WAPCo facilities; the Lagos Beach Compressor Station, located at Badgary in Lagos, Nigeria, and the other at the Takoradi Regulating and Metering Station at Aboadze in the Western Region of Ghana.
Dr. Doku was speaking to media regarding the upcoming major maintenance activities on the pipeline’s offshore section.
The briefing’s purpose was to promote public understanding of the activities, ensure transparency, answer questions from media and provide accurate information on how the activities will affect gas transportation services and measures put in place to ensure the project’s safe and timely execution.
“Our Lagos Beach Compressor Station is where cleaning and inspection devices, known as PIG, will be inserted into the pipeline. Takoradi Regulating and Metering Station is where each PIG will arrive after travelling through the 569km stretch of pipeline.
When the pipeline is sufficiently cleaned, he said, a device known as ‘intelligent PIG’ will be inserted to inspect its internal walls as it travels down to Takoradi.
He added divers will go under the sea to replace subsea valves at the intersection where the pipeline (laterals) from facilities in Cotonou, Lomé and Tema meet the main offshore pipeline.
Dr. Doku mentioned that during the 28-day exercise, some of services will be temporarily suspended – including reverse flow transportation of natural gas from Ghana’s Western Region to Tema in the east and gas transportation services from Nigeria to Cotonou (Benin), Lomé (Togo) and Tema (Ghana).
The good news, Dr. Doku said, is that an average about-90,000MMSCF/d of gas required to push PIG from Nigeria to Takoradi will be transported. Meaning WAPCo will be transporting gas to Takoradi.
On safety and efficiency, Dr. Doku pointed out that the maintenance work will prioritise the workers’ safety and WAPCo has extensively engaged all relevant stakeholder to ensure a smooth and successful project.
“WAPCo’s engineering and safety teams have worked to develop a comprehensive plan that ensures all activities are completed as safely and efficiently as possible,” he said.
Dr. Doku said WAPCo anticipates only a minimal disruption to host communities’ activities within the vicinity of facilities in Badagry-Nigeria and Aboadze-Ghana, as most of the activities will be offshore and confined within premises of the company’s facilities.
He added that as part of the maintenance process, WAPCo has engaged Environmental Protection Agencies in the respective countries and is implementing a world-class effluent management system at its facility in Takoradi, where the company expects to receive some effluence from cleaning the offshore pipeline.
“During execution, WAPCo is committed to maintaining the proactive stakeholder engagement processes established during the project’s preparation phase. The company will continue engaging with relevant stakeholders on all matters to ensure the project’s safe execution and success,” says Auwal Ibrahim, WAPCo’s General Manager Operations and Maintenance.
Source: thebftonline.