TEN fields to produce first oil next month

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has assured Ghanaians that the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) oil and gas field will produce its first oil in August this year.

Ghana has operating interest of 15%, while the other jubilee partners including Tullow Oil have 47.18%, Kosmos Energy has 17%, Anadarko has (17%), and the remaining 3.82% interest belongs to Petro SA.

The initial ramp-up of production is expected to peak at approximately 76,000 barrels per day, while around 50million standard cubic feet per day of gas is expected from the field.

The TEN field has reserves of 240 million barrels of oil and a deposit of 335 million standard cubic feet of gas. The TEN field which is west of the Jubilee Field is operated by Tullow.

The discovery was made in 2009 and the partners have drilled the oil wells that can produce the first oil. Speaking at oil and gas shipping and bunkering event Wednesday, the Chief Operating Officer of the GNPC, Michael Ayeetey said “though the TEN project is affected by the border dispute between the government of Ghana and its Ivorian counterpart, operations on the field are still ongoing.”

“The court order only prohibited further development of wells but Ghana was given the go ahead to continue the project it has already begun. The only thing we cannot do is drill additional wells,” he stated. Jubilee Field The Jubilee partners are looking at expanding the field as the original field is nearing its decommissioning period.

“The jubilee unit area was developed based on plan of development for two reservoir levels that were approved by the minister. However, the jubilee field has five reservoir levels,” he maintained. He said the partnership is expanding the column to include the other three reservoir levels and other discoveries that are outside the jubilee unit area.

This will include the Kosmos bloc that is east of the Jubilee Field which is comprised the Tick, Akasa and Mahogany discoveries. These will be tied back to the jubilee field, giving the jubilee a much wider unit area. Mr Ayeetey said, “the expanded unit area and plateau of the Jubilee Field will then be referred to as the Greater Jubilee.” “The discussions on the Greater Jubilee field are ongoing and the plan of development is yet to be approved by the Petroleum Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah,” he added.

Currently, the Jubilee has been producing about 80,000 barrels per day on average in the first quarter of the year. “This is under the production level of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO Kwame Nkrumah) since it is experiencing a technical challenge that is being resolved,” he said.

The low production levels of the FPSO is said to be a contributing factor to the current power outages being experienced in the country. This is because Ghana Gas is not receiving enough gas from the FPSO to be supplied to the thermal plants at the Aboadze enclave in the Western Region.