Ghana will open a US$600mn free port for oil and gas services to offshore and deep water exploration, development and production companies at Atuabo in 2018
Frank Hagan-Brown, commercial executive of Atuabo Free Port, said that this would cut down the cost of operations and servicing for the companies operating in Ghanaian oil and gas fields, according to Xinhua.
Construction work at the harbour, situated on a 2,000-acre land at Atuabo and 326 km west of the capital, will begin in Q3 2015 and expected to be complete in 25 months. The work will be carried out by the China Harbors Engineering Company (CHEC), which won the rigorous competitive bid out of 19 companies that submitted their tenders in a three-year process.
Currently, the closest place vessel and rig repairs can take place for the IOCs operating offshore Ghana are located either in South Africa’s Cape Town or in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, at a cost of US$500,000 per day.
“Atuabo Free Port will attract companies that carry out rig and vessel repairs and this will save the IOCs US$10mn per towage because it takes 20 days for a vessel to reach South Africa or Las Palmas from the Ghanaian waters,” Hagan Brown added.
He explained that the ability to attract investors into the enclave was high because their imports would have a 70 per cent duty free and tax-free access.
“With these services being offered here, the jobs are retained, the revenue is retained, and knowledge and technology transfer is assured for local employees of the service companies. The establishment of the port will also be a very critical breakthrough for Ghana because there are more job opportunities in the associated service sector of the upstream oil industry.
“This is so because the upstream oil industry offers jobs that require a lot of expertise but in the related services sector, there are more opportunities for technicians and other related artisans and service providers,” Hagan-Brown indicated.
He, therefore, urged local businesses to acquire lands for onward leasing for fabricating yards because, apart from the provision of the port and the handling of cargo as well as security by the Atuabo Free Port, the rest of the activities would be done on open market basis.
“This will create a greater ability for best practice and the efficiency of scale, transfer of knowledge and technology and the opportunity to develop a local economy based on the support services such as catering and hospitality services, filling stations, business centres, malls, vehicle hiring services and schools, among a large pool of businesses,” he added.
