The temporary shutdown is scheduled for January and March 2018.

The repair works will be carried out on the turret bearing of the oil and gas production vessel.

The Minister made the disclosure when he appeared on the floor of Parliament on Friday.

According to him, the repairs will ensure a long-term solution to the recurring breakdown of the turret.

“Mr. Speaker oil and gas production will be interrupted in 2018 with two shutdowns for three weeks each; on January 18^th, 2018 and March 7, 2018, to enable repair works to proceed, steps are being taken to optimize the number of shutdowns and optimize the shutdown duration,” he stated.

The faulty turret bearing on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah affected expected output on the vessel for a greater part of 2016.

The development led to an announcement by Tullow, operators of the vessel of possible shutdown in the 4^th quarter of 2017.

Initially planned to last for twelve weeks, Tullow reviewed the shutdown period on a couple of occasions and subsequently worked to avoid a prolonged shutdown of the vessel altogether.

Mr. Agyarko further gave a breakdown on the schedule of activities on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah between 2018 and 2019 as follows;

“Phase one entails activities under the interim solution while phase two deals with the long-term solution of permanent spread mooring. The aspect of the turret remediation project currently being undertaking is bearing stabilization on the turret which is the last stage of the interim solution. It is expected to be completed by December 2017 to pave the way for the start of the long-term solution.”

He added, “The schedule for the rest of the remediation works is as follows; award of offshore offloading system contract; 4^th quarter of 2017; completion of turret repair works and readiness for FPSO rotation 2^nd quarter 2018; the permanent spread mooring 3^rd quarter 2018; installation of offshore offloading system, 4^th quarter of 2019.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Agyarko has assured that his outfit is working to minimize the impact of the shutdown on the supply of gas in the country.

“Interruptions to gas supply during the temporary shutdown will be compensated for by gas from the newly commissioned TEN oilfields. Offloading will continue to be by means of the shuttle tanker until 4^th quarter 2019 when the offshore offloading system will be in place,” he asserted.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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