Missing vessel returns to Tema Harbour
Tema (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - The controversial oil
tanker which left the shores of Ghana with its cargo under mysterious
circumstances berthed safely at the Tema Harbour yesterday after a two-month
docking in Nigeria. The tanker MT Asterias 1 returned to the Tema Harbour with
its cargo intact of 73,701 barrels of crude oil it originally took away, valued
at $2m.
The tanker’s return was as a result of an agreement reached between Lushann Eternit Energy Limited and Ocean & Oil Limited of Nigeria, owners of the vessel. Under the new agreement, Lushann Eternit Energy Limited, the technical managers of Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL) has sent letters of credit in favour of Ocean & Oil Limited to cover the payment of a total debt of $1.915m owed it.
A fax message dated 30 May 2003, signed by Ikenna Mbwagwu, a director of Ocean & Oil Limited, addressed to the Managing Director of GNPC and made available to the Graphic yesterday indicated that the MT Asterias 1, would arrive at 20.00 hours on Sunday and, therefore, requested all parties involved to be present at the port to ensure a hitch-free transaction.
Last March, the then Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, reported that MT Asterias 1 with 73,701 barrels of crude oil valued at $2m was missing from the Saltpond Oilfields in the Central Region. The tanker left Ghana’s shores on 28 March without the notice of the GNPC or officials from the Ministry of Energy and this created public outcry.
Reports later indicated that Ocean & Oil Limited, owners of the vessel, exercised a lien over the cargo over non-payment of accumulated charter fees totalling $1.915m, by SOPCL. The government, in quick reaction, decided to hold SOPCL fully responsible for the departure of the oil tanker from the shores of Ghana. The government further directed the Attorney-General to initiate legal action against the company and froze the assets of Lushann.
The management of Lushann Eternit apologised to the government and people of Ghana for the embarrassment caused the country by the ship owners. On April 4, the then Minister of Energy, Albert Kan-Dapaah, announced at a press conference in Accra that the cargo vessel had been located in one of the West African countries but failed to name the country.
In an interview in Accra yesterday on the return of the vessel, the Director of Legal and Administration Department of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Owusu Afriyie, said the vessel left the shores of Ghana without regard to specified procedures, payment of royalties due the government and without informing the security agencies. Asked why the need for the return of the vessel from Nigeria when the debt owed Ocean & Oil Limited was almost equal to the value of the missing oil, he said, “It was brought to prove to the people of Ghana that the government did not steal the oil as was being alleged in certain quarters.”
He stressed that the GNPC and, for that matter, the government had no hand in the missing crude oil as was alleged. Afriyie further explained that at a recent meeting between officials of GNPC and Ocean & Oil Limited, the latter agreed to bring back the missing tanker because it has confidence in the government and the economy as well. He said the company “ expressed interest in investing in the economy and will not do anything to jeopardise the good relations it has enjoyed from the Ghana government over the years.”
Last April, the government decided to hold Lushann Eternit Energy Limited, the technical managers of SOPCL, fully responsible for the departure of the oil tanker MT Asterias 1, from the shores of Ghana. Kan-Dapaah is on record to have said that following the inaccuracies in the agreement between the government of Ghana and Lushann Eternit over the production of oil at Saltpond, the NPP government on assumption of office, set up a committee to review the arrangements and terms since they do not conform to internationally acceptable norms.
Kan-Dapaah said under the new agreement the government has
three per cent royalty, GNPC 15 per cent, a government income tax of 30 per
cent, an annual training allowance of US $ 50,000 and an annual rental of US$50
per square kilometre. He said the assets of GNPC have also been valued at $10m
and Lushann will be responsible for the decommissioning of the rig after
production. – Graphic
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