Oil City? the Role of Sekondi – Takoradi in Ghana's Emerging Oil Industry
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Francisca Amonua Quayson Francisca Amonua Quayson Francisca Oil City? The Role of Sekondi – Takoradi in Ghana’s Emerging Oil Industry Master’s thesis Master’s Oil City? The Role of Sekondi - Takoradi in Ghana’s Emerging Oil Industry Emerging in Ghana’s - Takoradi of Sekondi Oil City? The Role NTNU Science and Technology Science Norwegian University of University Norwegian Faculty of Social Sciences of Social Sciences Faculty Department of Geography Department of Geography and Technology Management Management and Technology Map from: http://crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/ghanas-jubilee-oil-field/jubileefieldmap/ Master Thesis for the Award of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Studies, Specializing in Geography Trondheim, Spring 2012 Oil City? The Role of Sekondi - Takoradi in Ghana’s Emerging Oil Industry Francisca Amonua Quayson Master Thesis for the Award of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Studies, Specializing in Geography Department of Geography Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, June 2012 I II DECLARATION I Francisca Amonua Quayson hereby declare that in exception of references used, which were duly cited and acknowledged, this dissertation is an outcome of a research conducted under the supervision of Professor Stig Jorgensen of the Department of Geography in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. ……………………………………………………….. Francisca Amonua Quayson June, 2012 Trondheim, Norway III DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my maker and to my family who have been very supportive of me. To my parents, thank you for being there for me. To my brothers Oppong, Ekow and Ebo, I love you all. I also dedicate this thesis to the memory of my late grandpa who passed on while I was writing this thesis. Benya Kumah, you did not write a thesis yourself, but you raised a woman whose daughter has written one today. May your soul rest in peace IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My gratitude goes to the Norwegian State Educational Fund for sponsoring my graduate studies and research. I also wish to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Stig H. Jorgensen for his guidance and advice in writing this thesis. It has been a long and challenging road indeed. To Sigrid Damman (SINTEF), Kamil Mohammed (STEPPRI) Mr Appiah (Tullow), Mr Akazaawie (Tullow), Mr Kufogbe (University of Ghana) and Mr Saggoe who helped me to access information in Ghana, I say thank you. To my informants from Tullow (Takoradi), Baker Hughes (Takoradi), GNPC (Takoradi), Macro Group, Sigma Base, ATS, Nyame Yie, Raybow, Takoradi Air Force Base, Takoradi Naval Base, STMA, GPHA (Takoradi), GOGSPA, GTPCWU and Western Regional Administrative Headquarters, thank you for making your voices heard; thank you for the time you took to enrich this research with your insightful information. I also wish to thank my family, friends and well wishers for their prayers, support and encouragement throughout this research. V VI ABSTRACT Ghana’s recent oil discovery in 2007 has brought with it anticipation for economic growth. Subsequently, there have been policies that seek to guide various aspects of the industry. This study explores the socio-economic and infrastructural role that Sekondi-Takoradi, the nearest big city to the Jubilee oil field, is playing to facilitate oil activities offshore, although it has no formal government recognition as Ghana’s oil city. Cluster theory and structural functionalist theory are used together with the concepts of cities and infrastructure to analyze results. The study uses the snowballing method to select 23 informants from a network of oil companies and oil service providers, government institutions and relevant associations. Interview guides were used to obtain primary data while observation and figures were used for elaboration. Findings indicate that Sekondi-Takoradi is evolving as a location for an oil industry cluster. Intense horizontal and vertical linkages between firms in the core oil industry and with other supporting businesses show characteristics of an industrial cluster. The city transportation and social infrastructure helps with the coordination of offshore and onshore activities albeit to a limited extent due to the lack of governmental policy intervention, urban primacy and inadequate infrastructural development. Local businesses are limited to the periphery of the oil supply chain due to their size, capacity and the general preference of oil companies for larger suppliers and companies. It is prudent for government and local planning authorities to formally recognize the city’s role and expand its infrastructural base to adequately support the industry. Local participation (businesses and labour) can be increased through capital investment, training and enforcement of local content policy goals to facilitate the anticipated economic growth. Key words: Ghana, Sekondi-Takoradi, City, Oil, Jubilee oil field, Infrastructure, Transportation, Cluster, Structural Functionalism. VII VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ...................................................................................................................................................... III DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................... V ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................. VII LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................... XIII LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. XIV LIST OF TERMS .................................................................................................................................................. XVI LIST OF UNITS .................................................................................................................................................... XVI CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH ........................................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 JUSTIFICATION / PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................................... 2 1.4 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVE ......................................................................................................... 4 1.5 ORGANIZATION OF CHAPTERS ............................................................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 THEORIES AND CONCEPTS .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1 INTRODUCTION, EPISTEMOLOGY AND POSITIONING ............................................................................................. 5 2.2 PRESENTATION OF RELEVANT CONCEPTS AND THEORIES ..................................................................................... 6 2.3 STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM THEORY ............................................................................................................. 6 2.4 CLUSTER THEORY ................................................................................................................................................ 7 2.5 THE CITY AS A CONCEPT .................................................................................................................................... 10 2.5.1 The city as a basis for economic activities ................................................................................................ 10 2.5.2 THE CITY AS A PLACE ...................................................................................................................................... 12 2.6 THE CONCEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE ................................................................................................................... 13 2.6.1 Transportation .......................................................................................................................................... 14 2.6.2 Social Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................. 15 2.6.3 Housing ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 2.7 LINKING THEORY AND CONCEPTS TO THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES...................................................................... 17