President Mahama cuts sod for work on oil, gas project
President John Mahama has cut the sod for the commencement of work on an onshore reception facility for the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) integrated oil and gas project at Sanzule in the Ellembelle District in the Western Region.
The multi-billion-dollar project is being undertaken by ENI S.p.A., an Italian multinational oil and gas company with operations in 79 countries which is currently the world's 11th largest industrial company.
The Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), representing the interest of Ghana, and the Vitol Group, a global energy and commodity trading company, are partners.
Work is to start immediately on various onshore receiving facilities and other installations such as the compressor station, a helipad, accommodation units, among others.
When completed, the project will produce almost 180 million standard cubic feet of gas (MMscf) daily.
The first phase of the project will see the delivery of oil in August 2017, while the second phase will deliver a significant volume of first gas in February 2018.
Speaking at the colourful ceremony on Saturday, the President said the country had just begun a great journey with its partners ENI S.p.A. and Vitol, with the GNPC representing the nation.
He described the facility as a true transformational project, adding, “No doubt it will have a positive impact on the economy and the people.”
The commencement of work on the OCTP project, he said, “marks the beginning of my vision to make Ghana an energy hub with the creation of a petrochemical industry in the Western Region”.
“With excess gas from the significant reserves we have discovered offshore, we can bring to light the long delayed plan to also produce our own fertiliser, caustic soda and other downstream petrochemical products,” he said.
Ghana exporting petroleum products
President Mahama, who began his speech by recalling the history of the country’s petroleum sector and ENI, said currently Ghana was exporting petroleum products to neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
“We load 40 tankers of gasoline and diesel daily to Burkina Faso and Mali. The country also competed and won the tender for the supply of 30,000 tonnes of petroleum products to Cote d’Ivoire,” he said.
The President attributed the strides made in the energy sector to the resumption of operations at TOR, which had also resulted in a swap-trade relationship with Nigeria, by which “we supply Nigeria with finished petroleum products in exchange for the same value in crude oil”.
Delivering almost 180MMscf of gas daily, he said, would be a great relief to the country’s thermal power units.
The government, he said, was excited about the project, since the gas from the project would be used to support about 1,000 megawatts of domestic power generation for the next two decades, representing about 40 per cent of current installed capacity.
He said the injection of about $7.9 billion, which is the single largest investment ever made in Ghana since independence, would ensure the reliability of power supply for national development and growth.
The President urged the youth to acquire skills and avail themselves of the job opportunities which would be made available with the execution of the project, noting that “there will be many more jobs, but without the requisite skills and certification, you cannot take advantage of the opportunities”.
ENI
The ENI S.p.A. Executive Vice-President for the sub-Saharan Africa Region and Chairman of ENI Ghana, Mr Umberto Carrara, said ENI’s presence in Ghana dated back to 1960 when the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) was created.
“In 1970, ENI constructed the refinery in Tema which was renamed in 1991 as the Tema Oil Refinery and was totally acquired by the government of Ghana in 1974,” he recalled.
Mr Carrara said returning to Ghana in 2009 with majority shares in the current project could be attributed to the long-established relationship between the two countries.
He said ENI would ensure the full deployment of new technology to ensure exploration success, fast-track development and ultimately implement programmes for the benefit of the country.
The Managing Director of ENI Ghana, Mr Fabio Cavanna, assured the President that the OCTP fields would continuously supply Ghana’s thermal power system with gas from 2018 to 2036.
He said the estimated gas volume was adequate to generate more than 80 per cent of the thermal power capacity installed in the country currently.
For his part, the President of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area, Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III, pledged the support of the chiefs and people for the project to ensure its successful completion.
