Ghana misses oil production target

Ghana will not be able to produce the estimated 120,000 barrels of oil per day when commercial oil production begins in the fourth quarter of this year, Dr. Joe Oteng Adjei, Minister of Energy has revealed.

Additionally, the nation would not be able to get the huge oil revenue anticipated when the partners including Tullow Oil and Anardarko begin the oil production in commercial quantities.

The Minister’s statement is contrary to earlier reports that the production would yield a minimum of 120,000 barrels of oil a day under phase one of the Jubilee Oilfield project.

“The partners are talking of about six to eight months before they can get to the point where they can produce maximum. Even in the first few months of production, though I don’t think I can go into detail, I know that the revenue will be about $2 billion,” he told Citi FM.

According to him, the production would not reach 120,000 barrels per day from the beginning, looking at the production profile.

“From the beginning, the oil production is very small and if you force the system and the pressure inside collapses then the oil would not appear at all. So there is an optimization schedule that we are working on with the partners,” Dr Adjei noted.

The Energy Minister explained that the nation would not get any revenue for this year when oil production starts in December. Ghana would rather get revenue next year, he added.

Generally, there had been high expectations among Ghanaians that the oil find would generate more funds and thereby improve their general welfare but the pronouncement by the Energy Minister points out that the oil production in the first few years might not effect any changes in their lives. Touching on the ground works at the Jubilee Oilfield, Dr. Oteng Adjei said currently, the government was in control of the project procedures to get the first oil this year.

“We are in total control now but it doesn’t mean nothing would happen within the next eight months. We think that we have robust structures now in place,” Mr. Oteng Adjei stated.

He added that the government wants to meet its policies so that there would not be any flaring of associated gas, saying structures and facilities have been put in place to ensure that crude oil and gas are obtained at the same time.

Explaining further, he emphasized that a temporary facility, a gas plant which would be able to process gas, would be put in place for now to refine the oil, process it and break it into crude and other forms.

Presently, several bills on oil and gas have been drafted and are awaiting cabinet approval before being sent to Parliament for final approval.

Ghana discovered crude oil in commercial quantities in 2007 at the West Cape Three Points with an initial estimation of 600 million barrels. Since then, more oil had been discovered increasing the quantity to about two billion barrels.

The discovery was made by Kosmos Energy of the USA in collaboration with Anardarko Petroleum also of the USA, Tullow Ghana Limited and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.