The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and energy services company Penspen have signed a feasibility study contract to examine West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) system performance and possibility of future network extension to the community states
The work will look at how WAGP has performed since its completion in 2010 and what measures need to be taken to optimise its operation. The work includes a technical and economic analysis of the extension of the pipeline conditions; market assessments will be made of possible ECOWAS countries to consider where network extension can be substantiated and estimates of the required investments will be made to quantify costs and benefits.
The study is planned to take 18 months and will include a number of validation workshops to review progress and study results involving experts from ECOWAS member states and sub-regional institutions.
Peter O'Sullivan, CEO of Penspen, said, “The signing of the contract for this significant study marks yet another occasion where the critical early phase abilities and experience of Penspen has been recognised by multinational clients. This study builds on our established work and reputation gained for other feasibility study work on major projects such as Kampala-Kigali, AGRI, TAPI and Trans-Sahara.”
ECOWAS includes 15 member states covering an area of over 5.1mn sq km with an estimated population of about 300mn inhabitants. WAGP at present runs from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana a total distance of 678 km, with 569 km offshore.
