The on- and offshore pipeline runs from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to a terminus in Ghana. Four nations (Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin) signed a 20-year agreement on the implementation of the pipeline which provides for a comprehensive legal, fiscal, and regulatory framework, as well as a single authority for the implementation of the project.
The project was initiated in 1982, when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) proposed the development of a natural gas pipeline throughout West Africa. In the early 1990’s, a feasibility report deemed that a project was commercially viable, and in September, 1995, the governments of four African countries signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA). The feasibility study was carried out in 1999. On 11 August 1999, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by participating countries in Cotonou, and in February 2000, an Inter-Governmental Agreement was signed. Following this, the WAGP implementation agreement was signed in 2003, and construction started in 2005. The first gas delivery is imminent, and the first main user will be Takoradi power plant in Ghana.
The pipeline is owned and operated by a consortium of Chevron (38%), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (25%), Royal Dutch Shell (17%), Takoradi Power Co (16%), Societe Togolaise de Gaz (SoToGaz 2%), and Societe Beninoise de Gaz (SoBeGaz – 2%). Both public and private-sector companies from these four countries are collaborating in the joint-venture company known as the West African Gas Pipeline Co (WAPCO) to construct and operate the pipeline.
The $635-million pipeline extends from the existing Escravos-Lagos pipeline at the Alagbado tee in Nigeria and proceed to a beachhead in Lagos and from there offshore to Takoradi, in Ghana, with gas delivery laterals from the main line extending to Cotonou (Benin), Lome (Togo) and Tema (Ghana). The Escravos-Lagos pipeline system has a capacity of 800m cuft/d, and the WAPCO system will initially carry a volume of 170m cuft/d, and peak over time at a capacity of 470m cuft/d. As a source of lower-cost sustainable fuel for power generation and direct use for industrial and commercial customers, the pipeline fosters an enabling environment for economic development and job creation in the sub-region.