President John Mahama has assured that government will continue to push for an increase in local content participation in Ghana’s oil and gas industry.
Speaking on the FPSO Professor John Atta Mills to commence oil production in the Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) field, President Mahama expressed satisfaction at the level of Ghanaian involvement in the fabrication of parts of the vessel.
“We have an eye for local content but in this particular one it’s been quite deliberate, quite focused, and much of the work on this FPSO was done locally.
There are many local faces working both onshore and offshore,” he said.
According to him, government will continue to improve the level of local content participation in the industry to help create jobs for Ghanaians.
“Am happy to note that in respect of human resource, we have come a long way” he said describing the level of participation as a great leap for the country.
President Mahama was optimistic the upset in world prices of crude oil will improve to enable the country have a fair price for the product.
TEN project
Unlike the previous production by the Jubilee partners on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, the TEN engaged about six major companies in various stages from production of parts of the vessel through providing technical and operational assistance for the final onshore commercial production.
Statistics by the Petroleum Commission revealed that locals secured 1 billion worth of contracts out of the over 5 billion worth of contract issued between 2010 and 2015.
Speaking at a ceremony to officially commence commercial production on the FPSO JEA Mills, President Mahama was hopeful Ghana would sign more and better contracts and strengthen country’s oil sector.
Expected output from TEN
The field is expected to produce over 23,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on average till close of the year.
According to lead managers of the project, Tullow Oil Ghana Limited, the figure is expected to ramp up as more wells are brought on board the production in the coming weeks.
At full capacity, the field is expected to produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day.
Under the TEN project agreement, Kosmos Energy has 17.0 percent interest, whiles PetroSA and Anadarko have 3.8 and 17.0 percent interests respectively.
The government of Ghana commands 15 percent, whiles the lead operator, Tullow Oil Ghana Limited has 47.1 percent.