ACCRA (Reuters) -Italian energy group Eni will temporarily suspend operations at a gas plant in Ghana on Sunday to implement a supply increase, likely resulting in power cuts, the West African country said on Wednesday.
Ghana, the world’s second biggest cocoa producer, has been trying to ramp up oil and gas production to increase revenues and prevent fossil fuels from becoming stranded.
It has reached a deal with Eni to increase natural gas supply by 30 million standard cubic feet per day to 270 million, the energy ministry said in a statement on X on Wednesday.
To facilitate the upgrade, Eni will temporarily halt some operations, resulting in “an impact on the availability of gas for power generation,” the statement said.
Speaking at an event on Monday in the southern city of Kumasi, Energy Minister John Jinapor said Ghana was “likely to experience some interactions or interruption of power” while the plant was offline.
“Once the work is done, we shall stabilise supply of gas, increase gas production and that will improve the delivery of power,” he said.
Eni’s Offshore Cape Three Points project off Ghana’s Atlantic Coast meets 65% of the country’s energy demand, according to the Italian company’s website.
Last week, Tullow Oil said in a statement it was planning to increase the supply of gas from its Jubilee and TEN projects to about 130 million standard cubic feet per day.
(Reporting by Emmanuel Bruce and Anait Miridzhanian. Editing by Bate Felix, Robbie Corey-Boulet and Mark Potter)
