Reporting Oil and Gas

Accra, Feb. 8, GNA – The sub sea equipment required for the production of oil from the Jubilee Field off the Coast of Ghana in the Western Region, have begun arriving in the country.

"This is a strong indication that the operator of Jubilee Field, Tullow Ghana Limited, is ready to produce first oil by the last quarter of this year," the company said in a statement issued in Accra on Monday.

The Sekondi Naval Base and the Takoradi Port have been the main entry points for the equipment.

Before the vessels carrying the equipment set sail for Ghana, a team from Tullow Ghana Limited visited some of the companies contracted by the Jubilee Partners as manufacturers.

The companies based in Houston, Texas, USA include MODEC, FMC Technologies, and Spitzer Industries Incorporated.

These are specialized companies that manufacture various sub sea equipment for oil production.

Spitzer Industries Incorporated is well known in the oil industry for the manufacture of Manifolds and Riser Stations, both of which are critical in bringing out the oil from the belly of the sea. FMC Technologies manufactured the "Christmas Trees" for the Jubilee Project.

The Christmas Tree is an assembly of control valves, gauges, pipes, chokes and fittings used to control oil and gas flow from a completed well. They are installed on the ocean floor.

The team also visited the Theodore Spool base in Mobile Alabama, where the Deep Blue Vessel, famed for spooling oil production pipelines, was ready to set off for Ghana.

Some of the pipelines being spooled onto the vessel have a diameter in excess of 17cm and were 1.5km in length.

Mr. Gayheart Mensah, Communications Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, a member of the team said: "There are expectations among Ghanaians that the oil find should transform Ghana’s economy and spin off jobs immediately. These are huge expectations that need to be managed".

He was confident that with the level of technology deployed by Tullow Ghana Limited, and the quality of personnel working on the project, the target date of producing first oil by the last quarter of this year would be achieved.

Tullow with 49.95 per cent, operates the Deepwater Tano licence and is partnered by Kosmos Energy with 18 per cent, Anadarko Petroleum 18 per cent, Sabre Oil and Gas 4.05 per cent and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) carried 10 per cent interest.

http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_economics/r_12225/

Accra, Feb. 8, GNA – Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on Monday pledged to make the company a leading global oil and gas company whose operations had profound impact on Ghanaians.

Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye, Managing Director of the company who made the pledge said its vision was based on four main strategies which are; building capacity and expanding activities, replacing and growing reserves, pursuing efficient capitalization and optimum participation and creating an appropriate environment for investment where the framework, rules and regulations instituted are fair and transparent.

Nana Asafu-Adjaye, was addressing a GNPC media interaction in Accra.

He explained that the first strategy would ensure management retained the right professionals across the different fields and these would include; geologists, geophysicists, petroleum engineers, lawyers, finance and audit professionals.

Nana Asafu-Adjaye, said while the capacity building programme would incorporate the deployment and effective use of information and communication technology (ICT), GNPC would re-establish the capacity to conduct petroleum operations on its own.

He said this would begin with the establishment of a joint operating company with one of their potential partners and play a leading role in the Natural Gas Infrastructure Development Project for national development.

"GNPC would broaden its operating function to include Crude Oil Trading and Marketing. We have already re-established the Crude Oil Marketing Department within the organisation and have begun lifting crude oil cargoes from Nigeria for the country," he added.

Nana Asafu-Adjaye, said to ensure continuous growth and replacement of reserves, GNPC would continue aggressive promotion of all basins and where data gaps existed such as the Volta Basin and the ultra deep water offshore area, the necessary data would be acquired to enable the generation of quality leads and prospects as well as an assessment of the potentials in those areas.

He said management would pursue its efforts to acquire the stakes available in the Deepwater Tano and West Cape Three Points blocks including the Kosmos stake.

"This acquisition is a highly priority initiative which forms part of the core strategy of optimum participation and increasing its stake in petroleum operations," he said.

Nana Asafu-Adjaye announced that management would package itself in a manner that would enable it establish credit ratings to ensure effective and easy access to financial markets to be able to raise the needed financing to accelerate growth.

On creating appropriate environment for investment, he said management would ensure the right balance between maximizing benefits for the country and Ghanaians and ensuring that investors achieved a fair return on investments.

Nana Asafu-Adjaye said management would collaborate with Government to institute measures for the optimal fiscal package and incentives to ensure sustained direct investment in exploration, development and production of oil and gas.

He said this would include incentives for achieving competitive cost of net gas as a basis for developing a vibrant local gas and petrochemical industry, incentives to support local service companies.

Mr. Ato Ahwoi, Chairman of Board of Directors of GNPC, stressed the need for Ghanaians and Ghanaian institutions to lead in the development of manpower for the sector, as well as upgrading national technical training establishments.

"Ghana must produce and reproduce all levels of oil industry professionals and make it unnecessary to send many of the youth abroad to acquire basic training, "he added.

Mr. Ahwoi said GNPC had a responsibility to step up to the challenge of supporting senior high schools, polytechnics, the universities and the Regional Maritime Academy to provide the professional leadership required to fulfil its mandate to ensure the nation benefited optimally from the petroleum industry.

http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_science/r_12229/