Ghana’s Jubilee Phase 1A set to produce first oil 2012 fourth quarter
Ghana’s Jubilee Phase 1A development project is said to be on course and it is set to produce its first oil in the fourth quarter of 2012, field operator Tullow Oil has said.
The British oil explorer said progressing Phase 1A is going according to plan and already, two production wells and one injector well have been drilled.
“Well completion and commissioning operations will continue through the second half of 2012 and first production is expected in the fourth quarter of 2012,” the company said in a trading statement July 4, 2012.
It adds that the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) project appraisal drilling and well testing, to support the Plan of Development (PoD), has continued to progress well.
“In May 2012, the Ntomme 2A appraisal well was successfully completed and flow tests in both the upper and lower reservoir zones recorded a combined rate of around 20,000 bopd. Following the flow tests, gauge readings were taken at the Tweneboa 3ST well (the Ntomme discovery well) which confirmed reservoir continuity,” Tullow stated.
Development work on the TEN project includes FPSO design competition, subsea FEED and associated tendering which according to Tullow “remains on track” with the PoD ready to be submitted to the Minister of Energy during the third quarter of 2012.
The statement further highlighted that the exploration drilling activity is ongoing in the Deep Water Tano licence with the drilling of the Wawa-1 well, which is expected to reach total depth in July 2012. On completion of Wawa-1, the Okure and Sapele exploration wells will be drilled prior to the exploration licence expiry in January 2013, it said.
Tullow expects plateau oil production of 120,000 barrels per day from the Jubilee fields in 2013 which will slide down but the new discoveries at the Jubilee Phase 1A will keep the level of production.
The World Bank had earlier estimated that Ghana will enjoy the plateau from Phase 1 for five years from mid-2011 to mid-2016 and decline thereafter with field life of 20 years.
In a book prepared by the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment (KITE) titled “Ghana’s Emerging Petroleum Industry: What Stakeholders need to know” it indicates that “Phase 1A will probably start in 2013 and has been described as possibly expanding the daily production of oil and gas from the Jubilee field to about 250,000 barrels at peak and 250 million cubic feet of gas respectively and a field life of 25-30 years.
According to KITE, if all future phases of the field’s development are carried out, oil production from the Jubilee field will peak at 114,000 barrels per day for up to three years under Phase 1.
However, peak production output could be prolonged if and when new phases of the Jubilee field are developed, it says.
As at the end of 2010, oil production from the Jubilee field has increased to over 70,000 bopd from five wells following first oil production on December 15, 2010.
Currently, oil produced from Ghana’s Jubilee fields during the first quarter of 2012 averaged 63,100 barrels of oil per day (bopd) at gross, Tullow said.
By Ekow Quandzie