The Jubilee FPSO Kwame Nkrumah is expected to be shut down in May this year to pave way for general routine maintenance.
The FPSO was shut down for three weeks between February and March this year.
Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, who briefed journalists after a working visit to the FPSO, noted that the temporary shutdown was to allow for repair works to be carried out on the turret bearing of the oil and gas production vessel.
This, according to the deputy minister, would also ensure long-term solution to the frequent breakdown of the turrets.
“We have gone to see the kind of work on the FPSO and I am impressed about the level of work done there, particularly the fact that some Ghanaians are also working on the FPSO,” Dr Amin Adam stated.
Dr Amin gave assurance that the impact of the shutdown would be minimized since Ghana Gas receives about 60 million standard cubic feet of gas every day from the TEN fields.
“From what we saw and the briefing we got, the effect of the shutdown on power generation will not be much and therefore I will like to inform Ghanaians that there is no cause for alarm,” he noted.
He continued “During the previous shutdown, Ghana Gas was going through maintenance. So we had a shortage of gas that compelled VRA to use other means, including buying more crude oil to be able to address the power shortfalls, but this time round we will not have that problem.”
He, however, pointed out that the government would not like to see many shutdown of the vessel which eventually affects the revenue of the country.
The Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, Charles Darku, on his part, reiterated the commitment of Tullow Ghana to finding a permanent solution to the frequent breakdown of turret bearing on the floating vessel used in producing and storing oil in the field.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi