Ghana gas sees early pay-off of China loan
The country’s 700 million dollar gas project currently underway is estimated to pay off a three billion dollar Chinese loan.
According to the head of the Ghana National Gas Company, Dr. George Adjah-Sipa Yankey the project will pay off the loan, five years after the gas project operations start.
The Ghana National Gas Company Chief Executive officer, George Adjah-Sipa Yankey said China's Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corp has begun surveying the sites in the country's oil-rich Western Region where pipelines would be laid and a gas-processing plant constructed.
Mr. Yankey's comments come days after the International Monetary Fund agreed to disburse $91.55 million of Ghana's three-year IMF loan and approved changes to loan conditions, allowing Ghana to borrow more money to fund infrastructure projects.
The IMF says after an evaluation of Ghana's debt, the body decided it could afford to increase its borrowing because government would be financing projects that would be used to generate enough revenue.
GNGC and Sinopec signed an agreement last month for the completion of the first phase of the project, expected to be completed in December 2012.
The first phase of the project will involve the construction of a gas processing plant, a 36-kilometer shallow-water offshore pipeline from the FPSO to the plant, a 120-kilometer onshore pipeline to a power plant in Aboadze and a 75-kilometer onshore pipeline to the town of Prestea.
Accra, May 17, 2012
Government’s management of revenue generated from the country’s oil and gas resources will today come under intense scrutiny ... 