Gilbert Boyefio
Plans are far advanced for Seaweld Engineering Company Limited, a local oil and gas company that provides a comprehensive range of services and solutions for the Oil and Gas industry, to start constructing vessels in Ghana.
The construction of the vessels are to be done completely in Ghana; right from design to using made in Ghana steel and goods and services to its completion.
Seaweld Engineering Limited is an Upstream Oil and Gas Service Company with the vision of becoming the leading service company with an impeccable record of excellence and efficiency. Their goal is to provide excellent services to offshore, onshore and near shore drilling contractors in Ghana, Africa and the world.
In an exclusive interview with Orient Energy Review magazine, Alfred Adagbedu, Chief Executive Officer of Seaweld Engineering Company Limited, disclosed that Seaweld has the manpower, the capacity and all it takes to construct a vessel.
Seaweld has vast knowledge and expertise in the fabrication sector of the oil and gas industry. The company is one of the Ghanaian companies that participated in providing fabrication services to the construction of the FPSO Prof Attah Mills for the TEN project. The FPSO’s module support stools, which attach modules to the deck of the vessel, were fabricated in Takoradi and Tema by Seaweld Engineering Ltd and Orsam Ltd.
According to Mr. Adegbedu, “Our experience is not only limited to what we have done in Ghana but also elsewhere in other countries. We want to put all these experience and expertise together to undertake this project”.
He indicated that the company wants to start with the construction of smaller vessels first.
He pointed out that attempt by Seaweld to partner the Maritime Dock Workers in the past to do similar project was not successful. “So basically we want to start by ourselves and if the players in the industry find out that we are doing it and they want to partner us, so be it.
But we want to start with the construction of the type of ferries that is used on the volta lake. Hitherto, Ghana has been buying these ferries from outside. But now we want to start building them in Ghana”.
On whether Seaweld has plans to construct a FPSO, Mr. Adegbedu noted that due to the capital intensive nature of such a project, it has to be a government driven agenda, noting that, “If government agrees that it can be done and brings all stakeholders on board, it becomes a real feasible thing. So building an FPSO in Ghana is a possibility but must be a goal and agenda by government”.
The vessels building initiative is just one of the numerous business ideas that the company want to rollout this year.
“Our plan for 2017 is to create more employment. Basically we want to feed the population and the way to feed the population is creating employments and wealth.
Apart from that, being an oil and gas service provider, we want to see the industry grow for the new fields that are going to be developed in Ghana.
We also want to be the biggest service provider company in Ghana. We want to do more training not just for Ghana but the entire African Community”, he pointed out.
Seaweld is an intermediary member of Trace International, which greatly signifies their commitment to transparency in International Commercial transactions.
Price of crude oil
Mr. Adegbedu was confident that the oil price is going to be stable in 2017 to enable them embark on this ambitious project.
It has been projected that oil prices are likely to continue to hover around $50 to $60 per barrel and if this trend continues, it will be very go news for players in the oil and gas industry who had to cut projects and lay off workers due to the fall in oil price in early 2015 to 2016.
However, Mr. Adegbedu pointed out that it is too early to be over confident of higher oil price now, pointing out that, “At Seaweld we are cutting our cloth according to the size. We are currently cutting our prices and margins down to survive in the industry.
Voltaian basin
Seaweld is keeping a close eye on the voltaian basin. To do an exploration of that nature takes expertise and therefore local expertise is very important. The company has already started running courses in partnership with the Regional Maritime University to training local labour so that come 2018 when exploration activities are expected to commence at the Votlta Basin they will have the men to fully take part.
Be the first to know when we publish an update
