A second Floating Production Offloading and Storage (FPSO), which will produce crude oil in commercial quantities has been named after late Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
FPSO J.E.A. Mills, which is currently under construction in Singapore is 30 per cent complete, and would be delivered in Ghana in the last quarter of 2015.
Commercial production of oil would commence on it before the end of 2016.
The first FPSO, which was named after Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nrkumah, was delivered in Ghana in 2010 and is currently producing an average of 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Kofi-Armah Buah, announced the naming of the FPSO after Prof. Mills after he unveiled deck and pipe rack stools of the new vessel in Singapore/
The deck and pipe rack stools, which were built by two Ghanaian companies were shipped to Singapore and fitted on the $1 billion plus FPSO.
Their fitting have since paved the way for the commencement of drydock works on the vessel, which is expected to produce 80,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
The stools, built by Seaweld and Orsam, both local fabrication companies would provide the foundation for the process and utility systems for the FPSO.
Thus, the stools and racks, which have been built to meet international specifications, are expected to grasp the vessel to the seabed.
A total of 361 stools, weighing approximately 500 metric tonnes were built.
FPSO Mills
According to Mr Buah, the suggestion of the name received approval from President Mahama and his Cabinet after discussions.Acknowledging the roles played by both former and the current president of Ghana, Mr Buah said Dr Nkrumah laid the foundation, while petroleum laws and data came to fruition under President J. J. Rawlings reign.
He said former President J. A. Kufuor and late Prof. Mills saw the discovery and actual production of oil respectively.
“Prof. Mills was a modest and honest man and what he stood for would be embodied in the FPSO,” Mr Buah noted, and expressed the hope the project would be delivered on time.
Local Content
Unveiling a plague that had the national flag and logos of the TEN project, Tullow Oil plc, Seaweld, MODEC and Orsam, Mr Buah said he was distinctuly happy the government’s dream of promoting local content was coming to a reality.According to him the ceremony was particularly significant because this was the first time local companies had participated in the FPSO building process.
He said there were talks underway to make it possible for local engineers and technicians to participate in the building and operation of this FPSO and future ones.
Mr Charles Darku
On his part, the General Manager of Tullow Oil, Mr Charles Darku, noted that the TEN partners and MODEC attached a great deal of importance to promoting local content.He said the vessel had a 20-year life span and explained that Tullow and its partners were committed to promoting the training of local engineers and technicians to enhance their competencies for the benefit of Ghana.
The development of the Ghanaian capacity, he noted was critical for the success of the TEN project.
According to him the TEN partners had taken the necessary steps to ensure many Ghanaians received the requisite international training to enable them to participate actively and effectively in the management of the FPSO when it sails to Ghana eventually.
He said Tullow and its partners were currently training Ghanaian companies to actively participate in the provision of goods and services in the oil and gas sector.
Mr Darku celebrated the two local companies for fabricating the stools and racks adding “we are proud of them.”
“We are looking forward to create jobs, businesses and thereby contribute to all the economies in the sub-region,” Mr Darku stressed and indicated that Tullow and its partners were pooling the needed resources together to make Ghana an oil hub in the sub-region.
JSL Executive Director
The Executive Director of Jurong Shipyard Limited (JSL), Mr Wang Zijian, said the latest state-of-the-art equipment were being installed on the FPSO.
He said the FPSO aside producing 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day, the FPSO would produce an additional 180 million cubic metres of gas and 65,000 barrels of water for production activities.
Additionally, the FPSO has a storage capacity of 1.7 million barrels.
MODEC Representative
The President of MODEC Offshore Production System, Mr Sateesh Dev, said MODEC was in August 2013 awarded a contract to build a second FPSO. “Together with our partners, we are working on it with the same fervour and dedication to ensure that we repeat the successful and timely completion of this project too,” he noted.He assured the minister and his team that MODEC was creating a world class FPSO “that takes into account many of the opportunities for improvement that we have metticulously extracted from FPSO Kwame Nrkumah through the various teams involved with the operation of the vessel.”
He said the construction of FPSO Mills brought to 22, the total number of vessels MODEC had partnered JSL to build.
Singapore High Commissioner
Singapore’s High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Dileep Nair, said he was glad with the progress of work and said Ghana was achieving many economic feats which had drawn Singapore’s interest to invest.“Ghana is a great country and we are encouraging our companies to take advantage of the many business opportunities in Ghana for investment” Mr Nair added.
Tullow Ghana Limited and its partners presented plagues to the Mr Buah and Mr Nair for their contributions towards the success of the TEN project.
Tour on Vessel
Earlier, Mr Buah and his entourage toured the vessel to monitor the progress of work.
He was accompanied by Mr Nair, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Alex Mould, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Petroleum Commission, Mr Theo Ahwireng and Mr Darku.
Engineers from the GNPC, officials of JSL, MODEC, and the media were also part of the tour.
Background
Tullow Oil Ghana Limited, in August 2013, settled on MODEC to build a new FPSO for the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) oil fields.The TEN oil fields are the country's second major oil field apart from Jubilee oil fields, which were discovered in June 2007.
MODEC, which specialises in building floating and production vessels around world, would also be responsible for maintaining and operating the vessel.
MODEC built the country's first FPSO for the Jubilee field at a cost of $ 750 million.
TEN is expected to pour its first oil by the middle of 2016 and has a reserve estimate of over one billion barrels crude oil.
SOURCE: graphic.com.gh
