Ghana Offshore Production A Year Away

Tullow Oil Ghana will start producing from the offshore Jubilee oil field in just over a year, an official said Wednesday.

The official, who didn't want to be named, said production is 368 days away, but wouldn't say how much is expected to be produced when full operation begins.

Jubilee is estimated to have between 600 million to 1,200 million barrel of reserves.

The spokesman also said the operations wouldn't be affected by operator Kosmos Energy's decision to sell its 30.875% stake in the field ExxonMobil has agreed to pay $4 billion for the stake, but that could be disrupted by China National Offshore Oil Co. (CEO), which is contemplating a rival bid in collaboration with Ghana National Petroleum Corp.

"Our operations would however not be affected by whatever happens to Kosmos because Tullow is committed to remaining in Ghana," the spokesman said.

He also said Tullow is involved in prospecting in other areas around the Deep Tano, Shallow Tano and the Chinebuah offshore fields.

Asked if Tullow would move to prospect onshore, he said: "If the Jubilee Fields prove successful, we might look at onshore projects."