From Ghana Web

Ghana’s energy challenges are set to linger on for a longer time as work on a crucial natural gas pipeline project won’t be complete until April, 2014, deputy Energy Minister John Jinapor, has said.

The undersea pipeline which runs from the offshore Jubilee field to a thermal plant near the port city of Takoradi has been hit by funding and other delays.

“By the end of Q1 the facility should be ready. Within Q2 we should be producing gas,” Deputy Energy Minister John Jinapor told Reuters in London on Wednesday.

The pipeline was supposed to begin conveying gas this year but the completion of work on the protect was delayed until January.

A cargo vessel bringing equipment for the gas rig sank at sea, which is one reason for the delay, and it costs the government about $12 million per month in light crude used to make up the gas shortfall, he said.

The pipeline is funded through a loan from the China Development Bank and a further cause of the delay has been holdups in disbursement of the loan with $500 million of $850 million received to date, Jinapor said.

Read more at ghanaweb.com