Tullow Oil Plc’s plan to take over the operations of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah (KNK) being used in Ghana’s oilfield from oil services provider MODEC and self operate it has been questioned by a former Minister for Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah.
The African focused independent oil and gas firm said in its 2021 Full Year results that it would, in the middle of 2022, take over the operations of FPSO Kwame Nkrumah from MODEC.
This decision, according to Mr Amarh Buah, should be of concern to Ghanaians since it is likely to destroy the local Ghanaian businesses in the upstream petroleum sector.
“We face a real risk of losing millions if the government fails to address the issues raised.Remember, we are stuck with just three producing Fields with dwindling reserves in a very tough economic time,” the former Minister said in a statement issued and copied to energynewsafrica.com.
He questioned whether Tullow can operate FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.
“How is Tullow’s maintenance record?” he quizzed again.
According to him, “We know of Tullow’s poor maintenance record as evidenced by the FPSO KNK turret.
“The Turret remediation project cost Ghana over 1 Billion USD in the form of cost of oil production,” he claimed.
He further questioned Tullow’s real motive for jobs and local content and participation.
“What will be the impact of this decision on indigenous Ghanaian companies, especially on contracts they already have with the current operator, MODEC? With this short timeline to take over, what are the transitional arrangements made with MODEC?”
Meanwhile, Tullow Oil Plc is yet to comment on the issue raised by the former Minister when energynewsafrica.com reached the Communication team on the telephone.
Source: energynewsafrica.com
