Energy Minister visits oil vessel construction site

Accra, Nov. 18, GNA - A delegation led by the Minister of Energy, Dr Joseph Oteng-Adjei, has visited three of the yards involved with the construction of the Jubilee Field Offshore Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) in Singapore, according to a statement released in Accra on Wednesday by Tullow Ghana Limited.

The delegation visited the Jurong Shipyard and the Dynamac Fabrication Yard in Singapore where the FPSO vessel and key process modules are being constructed, the statement said.

They toured the FPSO to examine the progress that has been made so far and also visited the MMHE fabrication yard in Malaysia where the turret, a key component of the FPSO, is being constructed. The Minister was accompanied by Mr Thomas Manu, Technical Director of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Mr Michael Opan, Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation for the Government of Ghana an= d Paul McDade, Chief Operating Officer of Tullow. Dr Oteng-Adjei said: "I am really excited by what I have seen of the=

FPSO. I have been greatly reassured that this project is on schedule both= in terms of quality and costs and I am certain that we will see first oil in=

Ghana in the final quarter of next year. Furthermore, I am grateful to al= l our partners for their commitment to this project."

"Nevertheless, we must remember that our ultimate goal is to ensure t= hat this great resource of ours is developed for the benefit of the people of=

Ghana. Our agenda is clear: to work closely with our partners to create t= he wealth that will help develop our country," he said. Mr. McDade said: "I am very pleased with the progress that we have seen. It is a tribute to our lead FPSO contractor Modec. This is an excit= ing time to be working with the Government of Ghana and our other partners on=

the world class Jubilee project. While there is much work still to be don= e both here and in Ghana, we remain on target and on schedule for first oil= in Ghana in the fourth quarter of 2010."

Tullow is a leading independent oil and gas, exploration and product= ion group with interests in over 85 exploration and production licences acros= s 23 countries and focuses on four core areas: Africa, Europe, South Asia a= nd South America.

In Africa, Tullow has production in Gabon, C=F4te d'Ivoire, Maurita= nia, Congo (Brazzaville) and Equatorial Guinea and two large appraisal and development programmes in Ghana and Uganda. Tullow also has exploration interests in Gabon, C=F4te d'Ivoire, Lib= eria, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Senegal, Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Madagascar, Namibia and Angola.