Ensuring the security, safety and environmental sustainability



The Ghana Maritime Authority Positioned to Play a crucial Role in Developing Ghana’s Offshore Oil and Gas.

By Prof. Martin Tsamenyi

The recent discovery of offshore oil and gas in the western part of Ghana’s continental shelf in commercial quantities has been welcomed by all sections of the Ghanaian and international community. There is a great deal of expectation among Ghanaians that this discovery and the resulting commencement of exploitation, from the fourth quarter of 2010, will bring significant economic benefits to Ghana.

At the same time, however, offshore oil and gas exploitation and development comes with enormous responsibilities and challenges. One of the most critical issues is how Ghana is going to manage the many security, safety and environmental issues that will arise over the next decade. The basic issue is that offshore oil and gas extraction involves a complex web of ships, structures, installations and people, all interacting with each other. It also takes place in a multiple use sea environment involving existing sea lanes for commercial and military vessels, productive fishing grounds, with countless numbers of fishing vessels a. All of these activities give rise to security, safety and environmental protection considerations at a high level of intensity once offshore production is in full swing.

Once petroleum production starts in Ghana, the number of offshore oil and gas installations in the waters of Ghana will steadily grow and traffic in and out of the area as well as Takoradi port will increase. Not least is the fact that the oil fields are located in proximity to major coastal shipping lanes and productive fishing grounds thereby increasing the chances of collisions between tankers, fishing vessels, offshore platforms and so on. The possibilities for collision for instance are infinite. Unless properly managed, dissatisfaction by local fishermen and shipping operators can become a major source of vulnerability.

For Ghana and other stakeholders in the Ghanaian petroleum economy any issues to do with security or safety of the country’s offshore oil and gas facilities has significant implications for security and economic well-being for Ghana, its immediate neighbours, regional States and the wider international community. This is particularly important given current and forecast pressures in the international energy situation. Incidents in the Ghanaian offshore oil and gas industry would cause further short-term oil and gas price instability; put pressure on regional security arrangements; increase operating costs through increased security requirements, workforce concerns and higher insurance premiums; and provide adverse publicity, impacting negatively on public and business confidence in the Ghana oil sector and those who operate, regulate and protect it. More importantly it could negatively affect investment in the country as a whole.

Additional challenge posed by Ghana’s offshore oil and gas development is the deep water location of some of the fields. Whilst this means that there is insulation from community concerns to some degree, distance from shore and deep water also pose difficulties for the authorities with respect to effectively monitoring, policing and enforcing the regulatory regimes. Considerable resources will have to be devoted to perform deepwater regulatory tasks. These include establishment of facilities, logistics for enforcement, supply vessels, training and maintaining the infrastructure.

The Ghana Maritime Authority and its offshore oil and gas roles

The Ghana Maritime Authority, established under the Ghana Maritime Authority Act (Act 630) of 2002, is the Government Agency charged with the responsibility of monitoring, regulating and coordinating maritime activities in all Ghanaian waters and the maritime industry.

In practical terms, the Authority is responsible for ensuring that the maritime community has access to marine safety support services in the form of aids to navigation, a distress and safety radio system and marine search and rescue capability, prevention of pollution from ships, effective national oil-spill response capability, and ship and port security.

The Ghana Maritime Authority is also responsible for the implementation of Ghana’s international maritime obligations, arising from Ghana’s membership and active participation in the work of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which is the competent and primary international organization on issues to do with maritime security, safety and environmental protection generally and in relation to offshore oil and gas development.

The Ghana Maritime Authority has specific roles and responsibilities in contributing towards management of the complex process of offshore oil and gas development. The essential point is that nearly all the infrastructure required to produce offshore oil and gas come under various IMO regulatory frameworks, including security, safety or environmental. Consequently they become the responsibility of the Ghana Maritime Authority, which are the focal points for the national implementation of all IMO instruments.

The IMO dimension is particularly important because as a member of the IMO, Ghana is required, acting as flag State, a coastal State or a port State as the case may be, to implement a range of IMO treaties, Codes, Guidelines, Resolutions and generally recommended practices to ensure safety and security of navigation, protection of seafarers and the preservation of the marine environment. These requirements are implemented for Ghana by the GMA, exercising functions granted to it under the Ghana Maritime Authority Act, 2002, Ghana Shipping Act, 2003, and the Ghana Maritime Security Act, 2004.

Significant exploration activities are already taking place in Ghana’s waters, using vessels called Mobile Offshore Drilling Units. These are large ships used in the exploration phase of offshore oil and gas.

It is expected that oil and gas production will commence in late 2010, using converted very large crude carriers called Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs), several very large oil and gas tankers carrying oil and gas from the FPSOs and a large number of supply vessels transporting personnel, food, and other provisions to the platforms.

All of these activities give rise to security, safety and environmental protection considerations at a high level of intensity.

Offshore oil and gas discovery and production in Ghana is bound to fundamentally change the existing roles of functions of the Ghana Maritime Authority. It also follows that the Authority will be one of the key government Agencies with crucial roles to play in ensuring that Ghana achieves the best economic outcome from offshore oil and gas, whilst at the same time protecting the security of the platforms and installations used in the oil and gas production, the safety of navigation for other ships, including fishing vessels and protecting Ghana’s marine environment. The major areas of new activity for the Ghana Maritime Authority can be summarized as follows:

Navigation Safety

Navigational safety considerations are paramount in any offshore oil and gas development. Offshore platforms can be a significant hazard to navigation. Very often offshore platforms and merchant vessel traffic are in close proximity in many areas. Many fishing vessels and small craft also often operate in the vicinity of offshore platforms. Offshore oil and gas production will also result in increase in maritime traffic to the installations, to Ghanaian ports and generally in the vicinity of the oil fields, increasing the risk of collision and other incidents of navigation.

Aids to navigation

Additionally, the Ghana Maritime Authority is mandated by legislation to provide, approve or supervise the provision of aids to navigation in Ghanaian waters in order to facilitate safe and effective movement of maritime traffic Offshore oil and gas development will give rise to additional maritime safety responsibilities for the Ghana Maritime Authority. All the offshore oil and gas terminals and installations will require aides to navigation. Offshore oil and gas production will also result in increase in maritime traffic to the installations, to Ghanaian ports and generally in the vicinity of the oil fields.

Managing Oil Spills

Offshore oil and gas development will increase Ghana’s vulnerability to major oil spills, necessitating a national and regional response framework under the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness. Under the provisions of this Convention, Ghana will be required to ensure that operators of offshore units under their jurisdiction have oil pollution emergency plans. It will also be necessary to acquire appropriate equipment and logistical support for marine oil spill response in Ghanaian marine waters

Maritime Security Considerations

Offshore oil and gas development come with many associated maritime security threats and concerns. A disturbing trend in recent years is the increase in several reported pirate attacks on offshore oil installations. Other security threats to offshore oil and gas installations include armed attacks, kidnapping for ransom, hostage taking and international terrorism. Ensuring the security of offshore oil and gas installations, productions process and transport system will require the implementation of appropriate maritime security measures established by the IMO.

Capacity Building

To meet the new challenges and to position Ghana to achieve maximum economic benefits from offshore oil and gas, there is also need to invest in human capital and capacity building initiatives. Staff of the Ghana Maritime Authority would need to be equipped with the necessary skills to handle every aspect of offshore oil and gas development, including standard setting, regulatory aspects, security and safety aspects and oil spills management.

The Way Forward

To position the Ministry of Transport and the Ghana transport sector to support Ghana’s offshore oil and gas development, the Ministry of Transport, organized a two day national conference at the Accra International Conference Centre from 15-16 July 2009. The Conference established clearly that there is urgent need for the development of a coordinated national response to the development of Ghana’s offshore oil and gas.

In response to the outcomes and recommendations from the conference, the Ghana Maritime Authority has initiated action to develop a Strategic Action Plan which will set out an actions framework for the Ghana Maritime Authority to support the Ministry of Transports overall policy direction on Ghana’s offshore oil and gas development. It is envisaged that this Strategic Action Plan will identify broad levels of specific actions involving a role by the Ghana Maritime Authority which require implementation.

Many of these functions and activities will need to discharge by the Ghana Maritime Authority in cooperation with the oil and gas industry and other government agencies, including the Ghana Navy and the Ministry of Environment. This will necessitate the negotiation and development of appropriate Memoranda of Agreement with relevant agencies to ensure good coordination and voidance of duplication and administrative inefficiency.

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