First Ghanaian-owned oil vessel arrives

• Posted on November 9, 2021November 9, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Tullow Ghana has taken delivery of first Ghanaian-owned, Ghanaian-flagged marine vessel after successful Offshore Vessel Inspection Database (OVID) testing on November 5, 2021.

The 71-meter long and 19-meter wide vessel christened ‘ MV Flat Confidence’ will be operational in the Western region of Ghana and will support the work of Tullow Ghana’s two FPSOs – Kwame Nkrumah and John Evans Atta Mills and other offshore activities in the oil and gas industry in Ghana

The MV Flat Confidence was acquired by Flat C Marine Offshore Limited, following a long-term contract granted by Tullow Ghana to the company that enabled them to raise finances to procure the vessel.

According to a release from Tullow Ghana, in 2020, Tullow Ghana embarked on an initiative to develop the local capacity of the oil and gas industry through the adoption of the marine sector with the aim of creating opportunities for indigenous Ghanaian companies to own and operate vessels to support the oil and gas industry, and upscale the capacity of Ghanaian personnel in the marine sector.

The presence of the Flat Confidence vessel reflects Tullow’s commitment to develop and support capability growth to international standards in marine sectors.
The marine sector adoption initiative aims at enhancing indigenous participation with 100% Ghanaian-owned and operationally Ghanaian-flagged offshore vessels. This is also part of Tullow’s Shared Prosperity agenda which includes optimising local content and developing supplier capacity.

Commenting on the historic achievement, Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, Wissam Al Monthiry said: “As a leading oil and gas company in Ghana, we recognise the active leadership role we must play to develop local capacity for participation in the oil and gas industry. That is why last year, we adopted the marine sector to develop local capacity in that sector to support the oil industry.

“We are extremely happy to have achieved this and we appreciate our key stakeholders, joint venture partners, Government of Ghana, Ports and Harbours Authority, the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Commission for their efforts in helping us make this possible. Hopefully this is the start of something progressive.”

Oil companies in Ghana play a significant role in accelerating the socio-economic development of the country. Over the years, Tullow and its partners have succeeded in empowering and supporting Ghanaian businesses to participate in the oil and gas industry.

Tullow is an independent oil & gas, exploration and production group which is quoted on the London, Irish and Ghanaian stock exchanges (symbol: TLW).

The Group has interests in over 40 exploration and production licences across 11 countries including Ghana where it operates the Jubilee and TEN fields.