New oil pipeline project raises eye brows

A 30 million-dollar Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) facility to be located five kilometres offshore the port of Tema is raising eye brows following monopolistic and certain demands being made by the operators. Tema Oil Terminal Company Limited (TOTC), a new company which will be established to operate the facility, wants the government to grant exclusively to TOTC a concession to design, construct, install and operate the SBM and associated pipelines.

The project, which will involve the laying of a nine-kilometre 36-inch sub-sea and land pipeline to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), is to facilitate greater crude oil supply from large oil vessels to enable the refinery to operate at greater capacity.

A source close to the project, who disclosed this to the GNA, said TOTC is demanding that government should agree and undertake with TOTC not to grant any of the rights and powers of the company under the agreement to a third party.

On the obligations of government regarding the possession of site and access thereto, TOTC wants a law that will allow full ownership of all the land and sea which constitutes the site at the time of its delivery to TOTC and the appointment of a contractor.

The source said government shall however be responsible for the clearance, relocation and diversion of all existing utilities, which may affect construction but the design of the project shall remain with TOTC and government can only get a copy on request.

One other requirement is the demand that the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) will not consent authority over the construction and operation of the SBM, which means the GPHA must shut up even when things are going wrong. The source also expressed concerned about the use of the existing oil tanker wharf of the Tema port since such a project will make it redundant.

On the full ownership of the land and sea, which constitutes the site, the source called on government not to accept that but rather grant a long-term lease since land is not sold in Ghana. It called on the government to scrutinise the agreement properly so that Ghanaians will not be losers in the end.