Oil Production Hits 90,000 Barrels

Ghana’s oil production at the Jubilee Oilfield has finally reached 90,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

This was after the commencement of the much anticipated Jubilee Phase 1a project. Earlier in October, this year, Renaissance Capital, a research group also predicted that the production level of oil would inch up from the current 80,000 bpd to 90,000 bpd by the end of the third quarter of 2012, representing an increase of 6 percent year on year.

According to the research, it still sees an upside for oil production over the next four quarters given that it is projected to peak at 120,000 bpd in 2013 by Tullow Oil.

A statement from the Tullow Oil Plc noted that phase 1a is currently producing crude at a rate of 16,500 barrels per day (bpd) boosting total output at the field to 90,000 bpd. This is the first of five phase 1a producers which are planned to be completed before mid 2013. When Ghana began the commercial production of oil in December 2010, it was expected to produce 120,000 barrels of oil per day but that could not materialize.

The shortfall was as a result of a “temporary technical issue.”

The Jubilee Oil field partners indicated that production will rather average between 70,000 to 90,000 barrels of oil per day in 2012.

The jubilee operators aim to further increase output this year through acid stimulation work on two phase 1 wells, as well as bring online the second phase 1a well by year-end. “However the Okure-1 exploration well has encountered low net to gross oil bearing reservoir in a secondary objective,” the statement noted.