Tullow Ghana's Decade-long Contributions To Ghana's Oil And Gas Industry

Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL) has been sharing details of its decade long contributions to Ghana’s burgeoning oil and gas industry.

Last week, the Company engaged with Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organisations in Ghana.

The aim was to update the CSO and NGO community on TGL’s work in the country and provide them with information on the socio-economic benefits of Tullow’s operations. The meeting was also to re-establish a stronger, more robust relationship with CSOs and NGOs, who play a leading role in advocacy and shaping national policy and development.

TGL’s Director of External Affairs, Social Performance and Local Content, Cynthia Lumor, highlighted Tullow’s work in Ghana from exploration to production and stressed the importance of engaging with CSOs on Tullow’s considerable achievements and prospects in Ghana.

Mrs Lumor stated, “As Operator of the Jubilee and TEN fields and the leading oil and Gas Company in Ghana, Tullow has made significant contributions to the country’s socio-economic development. Together with our partners, we have invested approximately $15.6 billion in Ghana over the decade, comprising $2.5 billion in exploration and appraisal, and $ 13.1 billion in development and production. We continue to invest in development and production activities that ultimately benefit all our stakeholders – our host country Ghana, our shareholders and our employees.

As we look forward to future activities in Ghana, it is important that we collaborate with key stakeholders like you to ensure optimal growth of the oil and gas industry in Ghana.” Going on to describe the contributions of Tullow and partners, Mrs Lumor listed tax and royalty payments, supply of up to 200 bcf of gas from the Jubilee Field at no cost to drive power generation, training and capacity building for local oil and gas professionals, increasing indigenous participation in oil and gas contracts, indirect economic benefits to complementary industries, and socio-economic investments in Western Regional communities and nationwide.

Some of the CSOs and NGOs who attended the meeting include Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Imani Africa, Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Institute for Energy Studies (IES), Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Dr. Steve Manteaw who chairs PIAC and doubles as the campaign co-ordinator for ISODEC, commended Tullow for a more open and collaborative approach to addressing matters in the oil and gas sector.

Responding to an inquiry on the status of the Turret Remediation Project (TRP), TGL stated that the turret remediation is in the final stages; following completion of interim stabilisation measures this year, rotation of the FPSO is planned for the end of 2018 and Permanent Spread Mooring planned to be completed in the first quarter 2019. Other areas of interest included Tullow’s interest in participating in the upcoming bidding rounds for oil blocks, TGL’s social investments in the Western Region, skills development for the oil and gas sector and sustainability of oil and gas businesses in the context of price volatility.

Mrs. Lumor stressed that TGL is keen to explore additional exploration opportunities and given its experience operating in Ghana for more than a decade, the company is knowledgeable about the geology of the area and well positioned for additional exploration. She stated, “Long-term, TGL wants to operate in Ghana beyond Jubilee and TEN. After operating successfully for over a decade, TGL is better informed than most IOCs on exploration and development in Ghana and this puts us in good stead to leverage existing opportunities to expand our operations in Ghana.”

She also emphasized TGL’s Shared Prosperity philosophy which is based on the belief that a country’s hydrocarbon resources can be a catalyst for host country economic development in parallel with creating value for shareholders. Investing in skills training and capacity building for oil and gas and other industries, local participation and socio-economic investments were identified as some of the key pillars of that philosophy.

The engagement with the CSOs and NGOs is part of a TGL transparency campaign to educate key stakeholders on the oil and gas industry and provide updates on the company’s activities.