Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil are currently involved in exploration activities offshore of Ghana, having discovered the Jubilee Field, one of the largest oil finds in West Africa in the last decade with an estimated 1.8 billion bbls of oil reserves.

Since August 2009, response specialist Lee Prendergast has undertaken a ten-week stint at Kosmos, providing oil spill response technical assistance in an HSE Advisor role in support of their drilling programme while trainer Rakhm Shad has been assisting Tullow Oil in the provision of oil spill response practical training and conducting equipment readiness remedial work.

Both Lee and Rakhm were also involved in training and presenting to governmental agencies, including environmental protection agencies, navy, police, commercial port and local waste contractors, all of whom required a better understanding of the fates, effects of oil spills and their roles during an incident.

Local expectations and concerns are high from employment opportunities to the environmental impact of E&P activities. Tullow has commenced a corporate social responsibility programme to help educate and alleviate some of these concerns. During these secondments Lee and Rakhm assisted with the building of a new school crossing as a part of this initiative.