TULLOW ENGAGES CONSULTANT ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (PAGE 40)

TULLOW Ghana Limited, which is developing the Jubilee Oil Field at Cape Three Points in the Western Region, has commissioned Environmental Resources Management (ERM) UK, in collaboration with ESL Consulting Ghana, to undertake the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Phase One of the Jubilee Field oil development.
The EIA will describe the project, assess the likely positive and negative impacts and describe the plans to be put in place to manage those impacts.
The Environmental Advisor of Tullow Ghana Limited, Mr Rex Quick, announced this in Takoradi at a sensitisation programme with the chief fishermen from the coastal towns in the Western Region.
He stated that the EIA, along with comments received from stakeholders, would be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which would decide whether or not to authorise the proposed project.
Mr Quick said the key issues identified during the scoping study included the project’s impacts on water, that is, from disposal of excess water from the wells into the sea, as well as discharges to the sea and impacts on water quality.
He said the discharges included cooling system water, ballast water, sewage and drainage.
Mr Quick stated that there would also be impact on the atmosphere as a result of the exhaust emissions from support vessels and helicopters, exhaust emissions from power generation from gas turbines on a customised ship called Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The FPSO vessel will be permanently moored in the Jubilee Field at approximately 1,000 water depth where oil from the wells would be transferred through a number of flexible pipes attached to well heads on the seabed.
The oil from the wells will be processed on the FPSO vessel and crude oil will be stored on board.
Mr Quick further stated that the oil development project would also have an impact on waste management due to the disposal of solid waste from the FPSO and support vessels.
He added that there would be an impact on biodiversity due to seabed ‘footprint’ of subsea infrastructure resulting in seabed disturbances and impacts on the communities.
He said the socio-economic impact of the project would include tax revenue payable to the government, creation of direct and indirect employment opportunities, influx of people seeking employment and business opportunities.
Mr Quick said there would be exclusion of commercial and recreational vessels and fishermen from safety zones around the FPSO and tankers, potential impact on fish resources due to the presence of structures and vessels and discharges as well as secondary impacts on commercial fisheries.
The environmental advisor said there could be accidental events which could include oil spills and fires which could have impacts on marine and coastal resources and associated socio-economic effects and trans-boundary effects.
According to Mr Quick, the Environmental Impact Assessment would consider the cumulative impacts of existing projects, the proposed projects and planned future projects.
The Corporate Social Responsibility Senior Advisor of Tullow Ghana Limited, Okyeame Ampadu-Agyei, said socio-economic impacts of the project were expected to arise and that the impact might affect a wide range of stakeholders.
These stakeholders, he said, included fishermen, shore-based activities at Sekondi/Takoradi, land-based activities at the Efasu area, as well as high expectations from the oil development.



Okyeame Ampadu-Agyei said the oil company had set up social responsibility committees at the community, district and national levels to serve as consultative bodies to ensure the delivery of development projects to the beneficiary communities.
He said the corporate social responsibility programme objectives and focus areas were on health, education, enterprise development and biodiversity conservation.
The Well Engineering Manager of Tullow, Mr Alan Dowokpor, said the Jubilee Field oil development project was a real fast-track project by anybody’s standard in terms of the project size.
He stated that it took some countries about 10 years for pumping of the oil out but it would take Ghana three years to bring the oil out.
Mr Dowokpor said four out of the 17 wells had been drilled.
He said Tullow had completed the exploration of the Jubilee Field and was in the process of developing it to produce oil.
“There may be further phases of exploration and development and it is estimated that the field could have a 20 to 30-year lifespan,” he stated.
The chief fisherman of Axim Lower Town, Nana Kwasi Bin, urged the oil company to involve the chief fishermen in all its corporate social responsibility activities.