The Ghana Gas Company Ltd has revealed that within the last four years, it has phased out the 52 Chinese expatriate staff running its technical operations at the Atuabo plant in the Western Region.

This revelation was made by the CEO of the company, Dr Ben Asante, when he took participants of a gas conference at Takoradi on a tour around the plant to explain to them the company’s operations.

The conference brought together officials from the Ministry of Energy and various relevant sector agencies and other industry players to discuss strategic ways in which Ghana’s gas resources can be maximised for the benefit of the nation.

Dr Asante disclosed that as of March 2017, the company’s plant was fully manned by expatriate technical personnel numbering about 50.

However, a concerted decision was taken to train Ghanaian engineers to take over these operational roles.

He said today, Ghanaian engineers numbering 50 have fully taken over the operations.

Dr Asante disclosed further that this move has saved the company about $3.5 million per month that it was paying the Chinese expatriate engineers, adding: “They are brilliant and so far we have not had any incidents at the plant.”

The CEO also stated that there was some scepticism when the idea was initially mooted, given that there had been an accident earlier at a VRA plant, and disclosed that notwithstanding, the initiative was pushed through.

The Ghana National Gas Company, incorporated in July 2011, is the nation’s premier gas business company and is responsible for producing and prospecting lean gas, condensate, LPG and plays a key role in the nation’s industrial sector.

Through its subterranean pipelines, the Atuabo plant supplies gas to the VRA’s Aboadze thermal plant and, therefore, plays a huge role in the country’s power supply system.