TULLOW, PATNERS ASSURE WORKERS OF INSURANCE COVER (PAGE 29, AUGUST 24, 2010)

TULLOW Ghana Limited and its Jubilee Partners have given assurance to all offshore workers of adequate insurance cover to take care of possible emergencies.
The assurance comes against the backdrop of a request made by some Ghanaian crew members working on the Deep Water Block for the Jubilee Partners to be updated on issues of compensation in case of injury.
Mr Gayheart Mensah, Communications Manager of Tullow Ghana, said “we are fully aware that the drilling and production environment is a potentially dangerous place to work, and much as we try to follow the requirements for safety, we also deserve the right to be briefed periodically.”
He said partners in the Jubilee Project had assured the workers that they were aware of their contributions to ensure the success of the Jubilee Phase I project, as the country prepared to be counted among the community of oil producing nations.
According to the Jubilee partners, they would not allow any contracted third party agency to bend the rules and place its employees in a disadvantaged position.
The offshore crew members were assured that all third party companies contracted to provide rig labour or other services for the Jubilee operations were required to have an adequate workman compensation plan for each crew member before the commencement of its services.
Recently a crew member, Prosper Kone, an employee of Menergy, which is a local company that provides rig labour, sustained injury in the course of work. He was immediately evacuated in an air ambulance to Takoradi and then to the 37 Military Hospital for initial medical attention.
The Jubilee Partners said safety and good working conditions for the staff and crew were not negotiable and not limited to any category of people but applied to all personnel on the project site and facilities.
Aside the adequate insurance cover, there were also two standby well-equipped medical facilities in Takoradi operated by the International SOS and the West African Rescue Association to give the best medical care in case of injury.
The partners remained confident of producing first oil in the last quarter of this year. Following the signing of three offshore licences in 2006, Tullow has made three field discoveries in Ghana to date.