UK COMPANY DESIGNS MINI OIL REFINERY (PAGE 35)

OIL and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC), a United Kingdom-based company, has innovated a mini oil refinery exclusively designed to refine crude oil on site and supply the product to remote or climatically harsh regions for local use.
This is to add value to existing natural resources to meet domestic demands and create stable foreign revenue streams.
Speaking to the media at a forum in Tema, the President of the OGDC, Mr John Holland, explained that the mini refineries would be economically viable in countries where local crude was available because it could be cost-effective to apply the technology in areas with poor roads to remove the high cost involved in transporting refined fuels from urban centres.
He noted that the system had been built with features to encourage simplicity of design, modular construction, intuitive plant operator interfaces and reliability to ensure a successful mini refining operation.
He said with the assurance of having oil in Ghana, the OGDC was in the process of formalising its operations to start a $2 billion oil drilling project to be involved in deep water offshore and onshore oil and gas processing, refinery and petrochemical.
He stated that after receiving its documents, which were at the final processing stage, the OGDC would take about 14 to 16 months to complete the project and start production.
Mr Holland disclosed that the project would feed the new technology of refining oil on site in remote areas.
He disclosed that the project would create over 2,400 jobs for Ghanaians to be involved in the construction of the refinery and about 380 others in fabricating and constructing swamp barges.
Mr Holland said a leading Venture Capital organisation had mandated OGDC to manage four new drilling swamp barges for use on charter basis in the West African and South Asian oil and gas markets.
He said the OGDC recently signed a 100 per cent funding package with a leading United States investment and merchant banking organisation to project manage the design fabrication and construction of a new export refinery and offshore deep water rig repair and offshore support facility.
Mr Holland said discussions were ongoing between the OGDC and government officials to identify the most strategic locations for these facilities.
He said the OGDC had also been awarded its own allocation for the purchase of feed stock that would be required to effectively utilise the refinery.
He said in addition, talks had been held with representatives of neighbouring ECOWAS countries to establish processing agreements.
Meanwhile, the OGDC has opened offices in Tema, Nigeria, China, Brazil, among others, and will, in the future, open additional locations near its facilities.