GE Oil & Gas opens training and offshore service center in Ghana

GE Oil & Gas has opened a new facility in Takoradi Port, Ghana, which will be the primary service center for deep-water offshore projects in the country.

GE said on Wednesday that it would deliver more than 45,000 training hours for Ghanaian personnel at the facility over the next five years to build a world-class local team.

The facility has a 1,600 square-meter indoor test area for testing three subsea trees simultaneously and 4,000 square meters of indoor and outdoor storage.

The new Ghana facility was officially opened on Wednesday by GE Oil & Gas CEO Lorenzo Simonelli and the Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Energy Joseph Cudjoe.

Simonelli said: “Localization supports growth in the communities in which we work, while increasing our productivity. GE is committed to partnering with Ghana to help support building critical skills and developing infrastructure for the country’s future growth.”

GE says the new infrastructure is already playing a role in supporting the installation for Eni’s Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) project for which GE Oil & Gas is supplying subsea and turbomachinery equipment. It will also provide welcome support for the local supply chain, and for small and medium-sized enterprises.

To remind, GE was awarded an $850 million order for the supply of equipment to the OCTP block in 2015. In January this year, GE Oil & Gas announced that UK Export Finance would provide $400 million in support of the OCTP contract.

Apart from delivering a training program for the locals, GE Oil & Gas recruited more than 30 Ghanaian staff to work at the new facility, including two fully-trained field service engineers who are now working offshore to support the installation phase for the OCTP project.

GE Oil & Gas is already a partner of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Ashesi University College in a local capacity building program. Also, the trio is working on local education and skills development as well as a small to medium enterprise (SME) development program since January 2015 with a goal to create the next and future generations of the oil and gas workforce, providing them with practical learning opportunities and access to technical expertise, locally.

The U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Jackson, who was also present at the ceremony, added: “Here in Ghana, GE has partnered with our USAID-funded Supply Chain Development project to build the capacity of local Small and Medium businesses. That’s not only a commitment to Ghana. It is a commitment to transitioning from donor funding toward private sector-led growth.”

Ado Oseragbaje, CEO of Sub-Saharan Africa at GE Oil & Gas, said: “Ghana has decades of development potential, and we are excited to provide support to a project that will act as an important energy source for the country for many years with minimal environmental impact, while also driving the development of local infrastructure and capacity-building.

“We invest in the training and facilities required to reduce complexity, provide faster turnaround of equipment deliveries, support our partners, and build a solid talent pipeline in-country.”