N-Gas, the main supplier of gas to Ghana’s Volta River Authority, VRA, through the West African Gas Pipeline,WAGP, has suspended supply as a result of the West African Coast’s indebtedness of over $166.3 million.
N-Gas is a company jointly owned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited.
The Deputy Power Minister, Mr Jinapor, who confirmed that the VRA is actually owing over $100 million, refused to confirm the exact amount, GhanaWeb reported.
However, Jinapor, said the threat of the shutdown is not going to worsen the current power rationing going on in the country.
He further explained to representatives of GhanaStar.com that the debt was caused by the explosion of the pipeline which caused this debt.
The Minister however, mentioned that plans are underway to get the debt settled adding that the VRA is working with banks to set up an escrow account to start the process of repayment of the debt.
N-Gas, which is jointly owned by Shell, Chevron and the NNPC, buys gas from oil companies in Nigeria and transports the gas to its customers in Benin, Togo and Ghana through the $1 billion West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), which is operated by the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo).
