Offshore operating base needed to protect oilfields — Chief of Defence Staff
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has proposed the establishment of an offshore forward operating base (OFOB) within the Tano Basin to improve the response time of the Ghana Navy in the event of an emergency.
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The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Obed Asamoah Akwa, made the call last Monday after visiting oilfields offshore to give the Defence Ministry and the GAF a sense of how best to support companies on the fields.
This was after the ruling by International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on the maritime boundary dispute with neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.
Collaborative effort
According to the military high command, the visit would ensure collaborative efforts to enhance security and asset protection, as well as ward off potential dangers such as terrorists that could make the country’s coastline unattractive to any viable venture.
General Akwa explained that “it takes more than two hours to get to the FPSOs from Sekondi/Takoradi” and, therefore, urged the oil companies operating offshore the Western Region to work with the military to set up such bases which could be as close as 30 minutes sailing to the production platforms.
Defence minister
The Minister of Defence, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, assured operators of the Jubilee and the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) fields of the government’s commitment to ensure security on the fields, and added that work was underway to upgrade equipment needed by the Ghana Navy to improve on security.
Expensive facility
With regard to the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Mr Nitiwul said, “It is obvious that it is a very expensive facility and the biggest challenge is to protect it. The security of a facility of this magnitude and the security of the people on board are important.
“If you invest a billion dollars, you must make sure you secure the place. As a government, we have taken the decision to equip our navy and air force, as well to patrol the area with helicopter gunships so they can respond quickly if the need arises,” he said.
Tano Basin, offshore base
Currently, the country has three basins, Accra-Keta Basin, Saltpond Basin and the most active, Tano Basin, which has seen several discoveries and three independent developed fields.
For effective protection of the three FPSOs – Kwame Nkrumah, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills and John Agyekum Kufuor – and other fields yet to be developed, there is the need for a dedicated naval vessel to serve as a rapid deployable, self-contained forward operating base.
Research shows that such offshore facilities allow freedom of action, flexibility and interoperability against other threats which will ensure the ability to quickly and deliberately enforce the national security strategy through the use of force when deterrence fails.
