Ghanaian-flagged vessel delivered - To support Ghana’s offshore operations

A wholly owned Ghanaian company has delivered the first Ghanaian-owned, Ghana-flagged supply vessel to Ghana’s premier offshore operator, Tullow Oil Ghana, to support the country’s upstream oil and gas activities.

The vessel— Flag Confidence — registered in Ghana and flying Ghana’s flag, is 71 metres long and 19 metres wide.

It was delivered by Flat C Marine Offshore to provide hold-back support during oil export operations at the calm buoy and deck cargo supply services to both of Tullow’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSOs) systems — Kwame Nkrumah and John Evans Atta Mills.

It is expected to boost local content drive to guarantee Ghana’s dominance in the local oil and gas production space.

It would also deliver multiple liquid and dry bulk cargoes from beneath deck without cross contamination and in a timely fashion, with a fully indigenous Ghanaian crew, trained and with the requisite capability and a safety management system in line with recognised global marine standards.

At the inaugural ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr Andrew Agyapa Mercer, said the government had been a strong advocate of the participation of local companies in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector.

He said as a way of creating economic opportunities and increasing financial value in the oil and gas value chain, “the Flat Confidence Vessel is, therefore, evidence of the invaluable work done by both the government and private sector actors to ensure that Ghanaians become critical players in the oil and gas industry”.

National vision

Mr Mercer said the current fit also tied in with the vision for a Ghana that was beyond aid and which had competent Ghanaians taking critical positions in all sectors of the economy.

“Indeed, if we will realise a Ghana that is truly beyond aid, we must take bold steps to build the requisite capacities, skills and competences needed for accelerated development in the country,” he said.

Mr Mercer said the government continued to make huge strides in the oil and gas industry, and that the 2021 Resource Governance Index published by the Natural Resource Governance Institute indicated that the country’s oil and gas sector scored 78 out of 100 points, improving by 11 points since 2017.

State institutions

The deputy minister said the report noted the impressive performance was driven by improvements in the governance of licensing and national budgeting, along with continued improvements in the management of state institutions responsible for the sector.

“Ghana’s enabling environment continues to provide a solid base for good resource governance under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” he said.

The successes achieved in the oil and gas sector so far, he said, had been a consequence of good collaboration between the government and private sector institutions such as Tullow Ghana.

“Government has taken particular notice of the invaluable contribution Tullow Ghana is making to local content development in the upstream oil and gas industry,” he added.