A floating regasification unit (FRU) for the Tema port’s liquid natural gas (LNG) facility is expected to arrive in Ghana in January 2021 according to TLTC. This will enable Tema LNG Terminal Company (TLTC) to start delivering LNG to customers in the first quarter of the year 2021.

The purpose-built FRU, which was built by Jiangnan Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, left the Jiangnan shipyard at the end of November. The Tema LNG facility will be developed by the Tema LNG Terminal Company, a consortium led by Helios Investment Partners and Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers, Is the first offshore LNG receiving terminal in Sub-Saharan Africa will comprise a marine LNG importing terminal at the existing Tema Port for the supply of gas to Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), in a bid to provide storage for the region and meet Ghana’s growing energy demand. The facility will have a combined storage capacity of approximately 145,000 m³ to 160,000 m³ with nominal gas send-out capacity of 1.7 million tonnes per annum of LNG. The terminal will employ the innovative combination of the FRU twinned with an existing LNG carrier to receive, store and regasify LNG.

“Once operational, this FRU will enable the Tema LNG facility to receive, regasify, store and deliver roughly 1.7-million tonnes of LNG a year – 30% of Ghana’s general capacity,” TLTC project manager, Edmund Agyeman-Duah said.

 “As evidenced in similar fast growing economies in Asia and Latin America, the introduction of LNG into the energy mix serves as a catalyst for industrial and economic growth.

“The switch to gas also delivers a significant environmental benefit and supports the transition to cleaner burning fuels in the region by reducing carbon dioxide emissions and eliminating sulphur emissions, in line with the Paris Climate Accord objectives.”

LNG will be supplied under a long-term contract with Shell. The onshore reception facilities will receive the gas from the FRU through subsea pipelines, before delivering natural gas to the GNPC and its customers,’’ Helios Investment Partners representative, Ogbemi Ofuya stated.

TLTC awarded Spanish firm Reganosa Servicios SL the contract for the operation and maintenance of the FRU, floating storage units and the associated 6 km gas pipeline linking the terminal to the existing pipeline network. The subsea pipeline will provide natural gas from the FRU and FSU and the associated onshore pipeline will deliver gas directly to GNPC