Offshore staff

LONDON -- Tullow Oil says the $3.1 billion Jubilee Phase 1 development offshore Ghana remains on track for first oil late this year. The timeframe between discovery and start-up – 40 months – will represent a new benchmark for the deepwater industry, the company claims.

All process modules and the external turret have been installed on the FPSO, with module integration and commissioning work under way at the yard in Singapore. Subsea installations started as scheduled this January. The FPSO should depart for Ghana in the second quarter.

Phase 1 will involve nine producer wells delivering 120,000 b/d at peak, with pressure support from six water injector wells and two gas injectors. To date, 16 wells have been completed and installation of production tubing and completion equipment is currently in progress.

Well results to date have been in line with pre-drill expectations, Tullow says, testing at rates of over 20,000 b/d, with reservoir connectivity over distances of more than 6 km (3.7 mi).

Gas produced with the oil will initially be re-injected for pressure support, although GNPC is considering a project to export the gas to shore for power generation. In the longer term, Tullow believes, around 70% of Jubilee’s associated gas could be diverted to this scheme.

Tullow adds that the remaining potential in the Greater Jubilee area lies to the southeast and includes the Sapele and Dahoma satellite exploration prospects. A first well on Dahoma was spud last month, and will be followed by a further appraisal well on the deepwater Mahogany discovery in the West Cape Three Points license in April.

The company also plans further drilling this year on the 2009 Twenebo discovery in Ghana’s Deep Water Tano block, including a flow test, and an exploratory well on the Owo prospect.

Offshore Mauritania, Tullow is a partner in the Banda gas discovery. Development options for the field are under discussion with the Mauritanian government.

Following a two-year regional basin and prospectivity review, Tullow says that numerous plays, leads, and prospects have emerged. These are unrelated to Mauritania’s established, thin Miocene reservoir plays, such as the offshore Chinguetti field, which have proven difficult to develop.

Tullow plans to draw on its high-strike rate as an operator and partner in the Equatorial Atlantic to target high-impact Cretaceous prospects in the region, with two exploratory wells lined up in Mauritania this year.

3/17/2010