Ghana’s Petroleum Minister has revealed that the country is still on the lookout for key oil and gas projects, in spite of the decline of crude oil prices globally.

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (photo) disclosed this after the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills was received in the country on March 2, 2016. The vessel is to produce and store oil from Ghana’s TEN offshore fields operated by Tullow Ghana Ltd and its partners.

According to the minister, the gas sector will play a major role in changing Ghana’s economy and the government is steadily developing more gas fields and increasing the capacity of current fields.

Buah noted that in the next 10 years, 80% of the country’s source of power will come from thermal generation. “The President’s vision of ensuring that by 2020 Ghana gets 3,000MW of power will be achieved because we estimate that with the various projects lined up, gas volumes from indigenous fields will be enough to generate over 3,000MW of power. Significant local content milestones have been achieved with the enhanced participation of Ghanaians in the procurement of TEN and ENI projects. For instance, in the construction of the FPSO Atta Mills, Ghanaian companies contributed remarkably. The deck of the vessel, which is lined with hundreds of modules and pipe rack support tools, were fabricated by Ghanaian companies,” the Minister told Hellenic Shipping News.

Anita Fatunji