Tullow plans US$300 million investment in Jubilee Field

Tullow plans to invest US$300million into Ghana in 2023 – out of the group investment of US$400million, primarily in the Jubilee Field.

Investment in Ghana is expected to support production and free cash flow generation for the company, which will further reduce net debt and strengthen Tullow’s balance sheet. Over US$100million of the amount will go into infrastructure.

Tullow, in an update to investors, indicated the planned expenditure figure represents an increase of US$50million compared to 2022 as a consequence of deferrals from 2022, increased equity in Ghana for the full year, and ongoing infrastructure investment in Jubilee South East – which will account for about 40 percent of the Ghana capital spend in 2023.

“Capital investment in 2023, particularly in Ghana, is expected to support production growth through to 2025 and free cash flow generation of US$700-800million at US$80/bbl for the two years 2024 and 2025 based on 2P reserves only; which will further reduce net debt and strengthen Tullow’s balance sheet,” the update read in part.

Tullow mentioned that the additional equity in the Jubilee and TEN Fields acquired through the pre-emption transaction in Ghana for US$126million had already been paid back by 31 December 2022.

The Group generated total revenue, including hedging cost of US$1.7billion, at a realised average oil price of US$102/bbl before hedging and US$87/bbl after hedging. Full-year capital expenditure was US$354million, US$270million in Ghana (of which US$107million was in infrastructure). Decommissioning expenditure was US$72 million.

Jubilee

In 2023, Tullow expects Jubilee oil production to average approximately 95 thousand Barrels of Oil Per Day (kbopd) (about 37 kbopd net), with a total of up to six new wells expected to come online starting from middle of the year. Gross oil production from the Jubilee Field is expected to exceed 100 kbopd once all these wells have been brought online.

“The focus on operational excellence in production, drilling and major project delivery in recent years has yielded appreciable value and will continue to be an area of leverage for Tullow,” the company highlighted.

Production from the Jubilee Field averaged 83.6 kbopd (31.9 kbopd net) in 2022. A good operational efficiency of circa 97 percent was achieved, and production was supported by four new wells (one producer and three water injectors) brought online in early 2022.

Tullow said that two wells were drilled in the Jubilee South East area in the second half of 2022, and a third well is currently being drilled. “First oil from the Jubilee South East project will be a significant milestone, bringing previously undeveloped reserves to production.

“The transition of operatorship to Tullow on the Jubilee FPSO took place in July 2022 and represented a major step in becoming a leading low-cost deep-water operator, realising improvements in safety, reliability and cost. Following the transition, FPSO uptime averaged about 99 percent in the second half of 2022 compared to 95 percent in the first half,” the company said.

TEN Field

In the case of the Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) Field, Tullow expects to focus on sustaining the strong operational uptime and improving gas-handling on the FPSO this year.

“Thisis will be implemented during a planned maintenance shutdown scheduled for the year’s third quarter. Increased gas handling capacity will also significantly reduce flaring and increase gas injection to support oil production,” it said.

“The longer-term plan is to monetise the significant remaining TEN resources through infill drilling particularly on Ntomme, phased development of new areas near existing infrastructure, development of the significant gas resources and drilling of prospective resources,” it added.

Tullow expects to submit a plan of development to the government of Ghana later this year.

In 2023, TEN production is expected to average about 20 kbopd (11 kbopd net), including the planned two-week maintenance shutdown. A water injection well (En16) that was brought online in December 2022 is expected to provide pressure support for production from Enyenra in 2023.

However, Tullow indicated that there are no new wells planned to be added in TEN for 2023.

Production from the TEN Field averaged 23.6 kbopd (12.5 kbopd net) in 2022. A good operational efficiency of c.98 percent was achieved with overall production at the lower end of guidance.