Raphael Adeniran The West African Gas Pipeline Project (WAGP), whose operational timeline has fallen behind schedule by more than two years, is expected to begin operations by December this year, official with the Nigerian Gas Company said last week. The pipeline which connects Nigeria’s natural gas supplies to Ghana through Togo and Benin, was initially scheduled to deliver its first batch of natural gas by 2005, but had to be shifted to 2007 due to technical and funding constraints. Officials of WAGP halted the project after leaks were detected in supply pipelines in Nigeria in 2007. "We should complete the clean up of the pipelines by the end of the month and begin to provide 30 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) of gas to Ghana from December," Sam Ndukwe, the pipeline's budget coordinator for the Nigerian Gas Company, told the press on the sidelines of an industry conference last week. Ndukwe estimates natural gas delivery through the pipeline will increase to 130 mcfd...