NPA supports 24-hour operations at GPMS Tema Oil Jetty

The Ghana Petroleum Mooring Systems Company Limited (GPMS) has ramped up the discharge of fuel products at its Tema jetty following the start of 24-hour berthing and unberthing of vessels at the facility last year.

The Operations and Maintenance Manager of GPMS, Mr. Francis Owusu, said the start of the 24-hour operations followed the resolution of technical issues and the improvement of lighting and security arrangements at the facility.

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) spearheaded the process in collaboration with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority.

Mr Owusu was giving a briefing to members of the civil society organizations after a field visit to the GPMS’s offshore mooring facilities (SPM and CBM) and the oil jetty in Tema on Thursday.

The visit was organized by the NPA to give the CSOs insight into operations in the country’s downstream petroleum sector.

In his remarks, the NPA Chief Executive, Mr Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, Esq., said in the past the jetty was unable to berth vessels after 5 p.m., while vessels were in a queue to berth.

The Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM) system in Tema consists of four permanent mooring chains with anchors, which keep the vessel (ship) stationary and prevent it from weathervaneing. It is located at about 2.7 nautical miles from the fishing harbor.

The oil jetty is a multi-purpose product terminal which allows for the discharge and loading of various petroleum products, e.g., crude oil, fuel oil, aviation turbine kerosene (ATK), gasoil, gasoline, naphtha, and LPG (butane & propane).

Speaking on behalf of CSOs, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Policy and Research, Mr. Kwadwo Opoku, thanked the NPA Chief Executive for operating an open-door policy that “gives us (CSOs) in-depth knowledge” of operations in the downstream petroleum industry.

Source: NPA