Ghana has joined the league of oil producing countries in the world and will have the privilege of deciding oil prices. The president John Evans Attah Mills together with some government officials and its jubilee partners were on board FPSO Kwame Nkrumah the vessel which was named after Ghana’s first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to assist in the drilling of Ghanaians first oil. The vessel which is not static but on the move has about one hundred and twenty people working on board.
The event was the first time a Ghanaian president commissioned the production of oil in commercial quantity and was the first in the annals of the world to come on air with live pictures.
At about 10 am Wednesday the president got on board FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and went through the safety briefing before going to the port site export pipeline which is about two meters in line and ensure accuracy where he was led by an official of Tullow oil plc to perform the drilling exercise.
The president then went to turn the valve open at exactly 10: 15 am which made it possible for oil to pour into the processing train.
Ghana’s oil is about 31 to 33 degree thick and in a high demand on the oil market. The production of oil will be between 750000 to one billion barrels a quarter of what Nigeria produces for about twenty years. The first export of oil will be in the first week of January 2011 to the United State of America and other European countries with the rest being used for domestic purposes once they begin full production, approximately Ghana will produce a tanker of oil once a week.
The president John Evans Attah Mills after turning on the valve went ahead to interact with some Ghanaian engineers and doctors working in the vessel.Dr Claudia Donkor and trainee engineers Emmanuel Kojo Dei and Francis Antwi were part of those the president interacted with and they expressed their happiness to be part of this historic occasion and also admitted that it was a dream come true for them to be working on the vessel.
The president made it clear his commitment towards ensuring that the oil find does not become a curse but a blessing for Ghanaians and called on all those in leadership authority to lead responsibly so as to ensure that those who’s resource they are stewards of benefit the people they lead.
He congratulated the jubilee partners for a hard work done in ensuring that Ghana’s dream of being an oil producing country becomes a reality.
“The journey have been long and it was indeed a hard and a good fight you fought since the exploration process begun several years ago and today it is just appropriate we celebrate you all he noted”
President Mills promised them of governments support and asked them to play by the rules and regulations governing their operation.
