Special topics
The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas has expressed concern that no independent institution in the country can verify the calibrations of the newly installed flow meter on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah on the Jubilee Oil Field.
The Jubilee Oil partners replaced the flow meter this year after it was found to be defective, prompting fears that the country was being short-changed.
The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas said replacing the flow meter alone is not enough and that an institution like the Standards Board should be able to verify whether the metering systems on the FPSO are functioning properly or not.
According to the coordinator of the platform, Mohammed Amin Adam, officials of the Standards Board do not have the requisite training to detect whether the metering system is not functioning accurately.
“It is not that we have not verified the calibrations on the flow meters alone, but also on the production line meters, and that is a serious concern because when the calibrations have not been verified on the flow meters on the production line meters, it means that you cannot tell whether the meters have been tempered with or not. This is an issue the Ghana Standard Board has to deal with but unfortunately they don’t have the logistical capacity or the expertise to do it,” he said.
He entreated government to resource the Ghana Standards Board as a matter of urgency and policy, so the production and export volumes can be tracked and monitored.
Mr. Adam said the organization’s call is to ensure that there is transparency in the whole oil production process.
http://www.citifmonline.com/index.php?id=1.691581