The Ministry of Petroleum has directed Tullow Ghana Limited, not to lay-off any core technical staff after announcing plans to layoff some workers of the company as a result of the slump in crude prices on the international market

According to a statement signed by the Communications Consultant to the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawa,” it is the position of the Ministry that Ghanaians playing core technical roles in the company should not be affected in the process”.The ministry says, Ghanaians working in departments such as Operations, Technical Services and Planning, Project and Engineering, Well engineering and Subsurface and Exploration should not be laid-off.The statement said,” this will ensure that the continuous effort to build and augment oil and gas technical skills and competency among Ghanaian professionals as prescribed by the local content policy and law is sustained”.

The Ministry has also directed Tullow Ghana Limited to put in mitigation measures to ensure minimal impact on employees by redeploying “employees of risk redundancy” to other areas of the business where their skills could be used.

“For eventual leavers, the Ministry further directs Tullow Ghana to offer a competitive severance package and roll out placement support programmes to ensure that they transition meaningfully after leaving Tullow Ghana Limited”, the statement concluded.

Petroleum Commission steps into the matter

Petroleum Commission has confirmed to Citi Business News, it is currently in talks with Tullow oil following plans by the company to lay off workers.

Speaking to Citi Business news, the director of special services at the Commission Kweku Boateng said “all stakeholders in the energy sector are involved in the negotiations and would ensure the Ghanaian interest is protected”.

But the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union belive workers of Tullow oil Ghana who will soon be laid-off would be worse off because they don’t belong to any labour union.

According to the umbrella body for workers in the oil sector, it unsuccessfully tried in the past to get the workers of Tullow oil Ghana unionized, but failed because the workers were afraid of being victimized by their employers.

Speaking to Citi Business News, the Deputy General Secretary of the Union Francis Sallah said they are keenly observing developments in Tullow oil Ghana.

Earlier energy policy think tank, Africa Centre for Energy Policy charged the Petroleum Commission to do due diligence in assessing the books of Tullow Oil before the company is allowed to lay off workers.

The ACEP Director of Operations and Resource Mobilization Ben Boakye said the petroleum commission must ensure” Ghanaians are not victimized”.

K.T Hammond accuses Tullow

Early last week the Minority spokesperson on Energy, KT Hammond accused the lead operator on the Jubilee Oil field, Tullow Oil, of defrauding the country.

According to him the company wants to use profits from Ghana to reduce their 2 billion dollar losses arising out of their operations in other jurisdiction.

“I do know for a fact that in our jubilee field production cost is between $10 and $12 per barrel…So there is no way this guys are running out of resources or production cost outstripping their revenue,” he fumed.
Source: http://business.citifmonline.com/2015/03/18/dont-lay-off-core-technical-staff-petroleum-ministry-warns-tullow/#sthash.Zvfv0Dbg.dpuf