Ghana's second FPSO named after Atta Mills
Ghana’s second Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel has been named after late President John Evans Atta Mills at a ceremony in Singapore. First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, officially performed the naming ceremony on Wednesday.
The ceremony, which was organized at the quayside of the Jurong Shipyard (JSL), was marked by cultural performances from both Ghana and Singapore.
Mrs Mahama officially named the vessel by breaking a bottle of champagne against its hull in keeping with naval tradition.
A red cloth, which had been used to cover the boldly written name on the three football fields sized FPSO, was simultaneously unveiled.
The First Lady got teary eyed immediately after the naming ceremony but quickly gathered her composure and managed to take a group photograph with dignitaries and a brother of the late President Mills, Mr Samuel Atta Mills.
Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (L), Tullow Group CEO, Aidan Heavey, Samuel Atta Mills, First Lady, Lordina Mahama and officials from JSL and MODEC posed for the cameras at the inauguration.
Gratitude
Delivering her speech before unveiling the FPSO, Mrs Mahama expressed gratitude to Tullow Oil Plc and its partners for honouring the memory of Prof. Mills in such impressive manner.
She said the conversion of the FPSO in Singapore demonstrated the healthy diplomatic relationship between Ghana and Singapore.
She was particularly excited about the event with the explanation that developments manifest and consolidate Ghana’s position as an emerging oil hub in the sub-region.
Mrs Mahama said it was fitting for the FPSO to be named after Prof. Mills because he oversaw the birth of Ghana’s offshore oil industry.
The First Lady congratulated the technical team for putting up a magnificent FPSO which, according to her, would be utilised to shore up Ghana’s economic progress in the oil and gas industry.
Messages
There were brief goodwill messages from the Tullow Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Aidan Heavey; JSL CEO, Mr Wong Weng Sun and CEO of MODEC, Mr Toshiro Miyazaki.
They all expressed joy at the turn of events and hoped the relationship between their respective companies and the government of Ghana would continue to be strengthened.
They were all excited about the fact that the FPSO had been built according to schedule and within the stipulated budget.
Tour of FPSO
After the ceremony, Mrs Mahama was accompanied by partners of the TEN fields to tour the FPSO, which is 90 per cent complete and billed to set sail in December 2015 to Ghana.
Tour of vessel
The FPSO, which will begin production of oil in February 2016, has the capacity to process 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
Mr Jeff Knox, TEN FPSO Project Manager led Mrs Mahama and other dignitaries on a tour of the FPSO.
During the tour, Mrs Mahama cut a cake to symbolise the celebration of the event while the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of JSL, Mr Wong Weng Sun, presented a plaque to the Captain of the vessel, Girish Kandpal, to signify that the vessel had moved from being an oil tanker into an FPSO.
Dignatries
Also in attendance were the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong; the Minister of Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah; a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mrs Mona Quartey; the Managing Director of Tullow Ghana Limited, Mr Charles Darku; the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Alex Mould; TEN project partners, officials from MODEC and many others.
The FPSO, which was built with contribution from Ghanaian contractors, has accommodation for 120 people.
The TEN Project
The $5billion TEN Project is developing three offshore oil and gas fields to start producing in mid 2016.The project name was derived from the names of the three fields, Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme, located about 60 kilometres off the coast of Ghana’s Western Region.
The development will consist of around 24 wells in total – a mixture of water injection, gas injection and production wells. For a start-up, 10 wells will be required and these have already been drilled. The FPSO will be anchored above the fields to receive the crude oil and gas.
It is expected to develop 300 million barrels of oil over the 20-year lifespan of the field. Around 80 per cent of this is oil and 20 per cent gas. The TEN Project is a joint venture led by Tullow Oil. The partners (and their percentage equities) are: Tullow Oil: 47.185 per cent; Kosmos Energy: 17 per cent; Anadarko Petroleum Corporation: 17 per cent; Ghana National Petroleum Corporation: 15 per cent and PetroSA: 3.815 per cent.