Ghana: Tema Oil Jetty Handles More Fuel After Shift To 24-Hour Operations

Ghana Petroleum Mooring Systems Company Limited (GPMS) has increased the volume of fuel unloaded at its Tema oil jetty since it began allowing vessels to berth and unberth around the clock last year, a company official said on Thursday.

Francis Owusu, GPMS operations and maintenance manager, said the change followed the resolution of technical issues and improvements to lighting and security at the jetty. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) led the effort in collaboration with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority.

Owusu briefed representatives of civil society organisations after a tour of the jetty and the company’s offshore single-point and conventional buoy mooring facilities. The NPA organised the visit to give the groups a closer look at Ghana’s downstream petroleum operations.

NPA Chief Executive Godwin Kudzo Tameklo said the jetty previously could not berth vessels after 5 p.m., even when ships were waiting.

The conventional buoy mooring system, about 2.7 nautical miles from Tema’s fishing harbour, uses four permanently anchored mooring chains to hold a vessel in position and prevent it from swinging with changes in wind or current.

The jetty can load and unload crude oil, fuel oil, aviation turbine kerosene, diesel, petrol, naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas, including butane and propane.

Speaking on behalf of the groups, Kwadwo Opoku, executive director of the Institute for Energy Policy and Research, thanked the NPA for giving civil society organisations greater insight into the downstream petroleum industry.