Operators on the Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) Dr. Kwame Nkrumah have served notice the vessel will shut down.
This is to allow for maintenance works on the vessel’s bearing at the Jubilee oilfields.
This was announced by a Petroleum Engineer at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Albert Longman Newman.
The exercise will be the first of three shutdowns to be carried out this year.
“We have three shutdowns, one is for stabilization; we want to stabilize the turret bearing by jacking the bearing to a very stable position. That will occur within the first of February to 21st February. Then we will do a preparatory work between the 21st to 19th of March, where we will have a second shut down,” he explained.
He stated that “the second shutdown will be mainly aimed at cleaning the debris while fixing other parts of the vessel that are in poor shape to free space for possible rotation of the FPSO”.
He added that the third and final shutdown will be in November to carry out a similar exercise.
Mr. Newman’s comments follow earlier assertions by Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko that the vessel will be shut down twice.
Mr. Agyarko had asserted that the vessel will be shut down in January and March this year.
However, Mr. Newman stated that the shutdown is necessary to allow for a smooth operation of the FPSO in 2019.
He spoke to Citi Business News at the sidelines of a dissemination workshop on petroleum funds organized by the Ministry of Finance.
Meanwhile, Mr. Newman is optimistic the maintenance works will enhance the output of the FPSO to sustain its production level for 2019.
CBN
