Mahama commissions FPSO Atta Mills [Photos]

President John Dramani Mahama today [Thursday], turned on the production valve on the Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO), John Evans Atta Mills, to officially commence production of oil in commercial quantities at the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) Fields.

The ceremony was held offshore on the FPSO as the President also opened a Subsea Well Choke, unveiling a plaque to commemorate the ceremonial event.

Speaking on the FPSO Professor John Atta Mills to commence oil production in the TEN field, President Mahama expressed satisfaction at the level of Ghanaian involvement in the fabrication of parts of the vessel.

Unlike the previous production by the Jubilee partners on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, the TEN engaged about six major companies in various stages from production of parts of the vessel through providing technical and operational assistance for the final onshore commercial production.

Statistics by the Petroleum Commission revealed that, locals secured 1 billion worth of contracts out of the over 5 billion worth of contract issued between 2010 and 2015.

Speaking at a ceremony to officially commence commercial production on the FPSO JEA Mills, President Mahama was hopeful Ghana would sign more and better contracts and strengthen the country’s oil sector.

The field is expected to produce over 23,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on average till close of the year 2016.

According to lead managers of the project, Tullow Oil Ghana Limited, the figure is expected to ramp up as more wells are brought on board the production in the coming weeks.

At full capacity, the field is expected to produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day.

Under the TEN project agreement, Kosmos Energy has 17.0 percent interest, whiles PetroSA and Anadarko have 3.8 and 17.0 percent interests respectively.

The government of Ghana commands 15 percent, whiles the lead operator, Tullow Oil Ghana Limited has 47.1 percent.

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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/Lawrence Segbefia/citifmonline.com/Ghana