Mrs. Akufo-Addo launches FPSO in Singapore
Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the First Lady, on Friday launched the Floating Production and-Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel John Agyekum Kufuor, at the Keppel shipyard in Singapore.
The vessel named after John Agyekum Kufuor, a Former President of Ghana, would operate in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) oilfields in the Western Region. It is the largest of the three FPSOs in Ghana and the first equipped to convert both gas and oil on the same platform.
Mrs Akufo-Addo commended the former President for his foresight in restructuring the oil sector during his administration, which led to the finding of oil in commercial quantities, for the first time in Ghana, about a decade ago.
This was contained in a statement signed by Frank Agyekum, the First Lady’s spokesperson, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Friday.
She noted that naming the vessel after Former President Kufuor was well-deserved as it showed the appreciation of Ghanaians for his good deeds which turned Ghana around from a Highly Indebted and Poor Country (HIPC) to a lower middle income-earning country in a record time of about six years.
Mr Agyekum Kufuor expressed his appreciation and commended the current NPP government led by President Nana Akufo-Addo, for carrying through with the proposal.
He pointed out that Ghanaians have not yet fully realised the benefits of the find: “Although Ghana is now counted among the ‘oil-producing countries in the world, our country is yet to become the ‘land of milk and honey’ that many pray for.
“We still grapple with a lot of economic and social difficulties in our bid to make our oil find a ‘blessing and not a curse,’” he said.
He encouraged the efficient management of the FPSO with capacity to process 58,000 barrels of oil and 98 million standard cubic feet of Gas a day, will help to turn things around for the country.
He expressed optimism that the new government under Akufo-Addo: “will expand the enabling atmosphere with best practices and policies for the concept of Public-Private-Partnership to be realised to achieve the social and economic transformation for all citizens of our nation in the shortest possible time.”
FPSO John Agyekum Kufuor, expected to sail into Ghanaian waters by April 2017, is operated by ENI Petroleum, Ghana, Limited, Vitol Upstream, Ghana Limited and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.
It was built by Keppel Offshore and Marine Shipyard Company of Singapore.
Source: GNA