Tullow Oil picks Vallourec for TEN project

The lead operator in Ghana’s Jubilee oilfield, Tullow Oil plc has selected Vallourec to supply premium line pipes and welding services for the Tweneboa, Enyera and Ntomme (TEN) ultra-deepwater oil and gas project, operated by Tullow Oil and executed by a consortium of Subsea 7 and Technip.

Vallourec will provide Subsea 7 with seamless offshore line-pipe including anticorrosion coating for a total of 15 000 t. The pipes will be dedicated to production flowlines and gas export line.

Vallourec's subsidiary Serimax, an international welding company, will accomplish associated welding services for the double jointing operations related to the production pipe in pipe and the gas export lines. Those operations are to start within the next three months.

Dominique Richardot, Managing Director of Vallourec's Pipe and SURF activities, declared: “Vallourec's involvement in several parts of the TEN project demonstrates our ability to generate added value for our clients through flexibility, synergies and close cooperation. By providing an important number of non-standard pipe dimensions we help Subsea 7 facilitate the pipe-in-pipe design optimisation, and thus reduce total costs. Moreover, thanks to our lean logistics, our performing welding services, as well as our strong execution team, we offer a full support to our client to efficiently conduct this offshore project in Ghana.”

Tullow Oil has said that the development of its second major oilfield in Ghana, being the TEN field, is on track to deliver first oil by mid-2016.

The oil exploration and production company has said that work is progressing steadily on fabrication of the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel with a capacity to process 80,000 barrels of oil per day.

Production at the field is expected to peak at between 75,000 and 76,000 barrels of oil per day, and the project is expected to recover approximately 216 million barrels of oil.

The government of Ghana approved the plan of development for the project on May 29, 2013, paving the way for Tullow and its partners to proceed with development of the field, estimated to cost US$4.5billion.

According to Tullow, development of the TEN Project requires the drilling and completion of up to 24 development wells, which will be connected through sub-sea infrastructure to the FPSO.

The Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) fields are located in the Deepwater Tano licence, which covers an area of more than 800 sq km and lies around 20km west of the Jubilee Field.

The first discovery of oil was made by the Eirik Raude drill rig in March 2009.

Tullow is operator of the Deepwater Tano Contract Area with an equity interest of 47.175%. Other partner interests are Kosmos Energy (17%), Anadarko Petroleum (17%), Sabre Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Petro SA (3.825%), and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (15%)