The American oil company Chevron, which currently operates Liberia's oil blocks 11, 12 and 14, respectively has officially opened a storage compound in Grand Bassa County for its equipments.

The 'lay down yard' as the storage compound is called, will allow Chevron to gather its equipments to and from the drill ship, thus reducing the transit time to the rig.

Now that the yard is completed, the company will begin the planning process of moving equipments in there.

"We had equipments in both the US and Ghana that we wanted to mobilize, putting safety always first," Chevron Country Manager Mr. Karl Cottrell noted in his opening remarks during the official launch of the lay down yard in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.

He said during offloading of vessel and stacking of equipments in the yard, the company employed approximately 60 crafts men and women, whose skills range from stevedores, truck drivers, crane and forklift operators, flagmen, and spotters.

"All of these folks did an outstanding job and we are proud of what they achieved, and while the stacking of the materials was done extremely well by these men and women, the most outstanding achievement is that they completed over 8,000 man-hours injury and incident free and made over 865 lifts in a safe and controlled environment," said Mr. Cottrell, and added:

"While today we are celebrating the opening of our laydown yard, I'd be remiss if I did not mention in passing the strong partnership that we developed with Grand Bassa County."

Grand Bassa, in southeast Liberia, hosts the second largest commercial port in the country. Country Manager Cottrell noted that Chevron has a very active corporate responsibility program in place with 53 projects either completed or underway across the country.

According to him, approximately 20% of the company's total spending has been directed towards Grand Bassa County where Chevron has six corporate responsibility projects that are solely focused on the county.

He revealed that Chevron Liberia Limited has a vested interest in the safe development of Liberia's energy resources, and is providing an economic boost to Grand Bassa County.

Cottrell expressed proudly that the company is leading the way to establishing key infrastructure for the industry, while partnering with critical stakeholders to make meaningful changes to the lives of the individuals that Chevron has the opportunity to touch.

He said the lay down yard, however, is just one small and early component of what could be vibrant oil field supply base in the future. For his part, the President of the National Oil Company of Liberia Dr. Randolph McClain welcomed the construction of the facility in the county.

Dr. McClain said the company's operation in Liberia is a win- win scenario where Liberia will benefit from employment and improvement of her economy, while Chevron will have an opportunity to save more money for its operations. The NOCAL Boss encouraged the company to continue its hard work to provide jobs for Liberians as it expands its operations in the country.

Speaking on behalf of the National Port Authority Manager Madam Matilda Parker, the Buchanan Port Manager, Patrick Konneh, said in the wake of numerous emerging economic activities, the Port Authority is working frantically in developing its facilities to meet the needs of corresponding intermodal transportation demands that these activities will require.

He said the Port Authority is currently concluding plan to expand capacities (berth and depth) of its existing facilities to be able to attract more traffic with space and size being no hindrance.

Konneh said besides, value added services are also being envisaged against the traditional role of facilitating the berthing and un-berthing of vessels and the discharging of cargoes and loading of vessels, specifically packing, lading, supply vessels.

"We are also working with the relevant authorities in developing inland water facilities, which we believe will give rise to new economic corridors and create more job opportunities especially for our youthful population," he said.