The offshore Ghana Jubilee Project has helped turn the West African nation into a black gold hot spot, according to panellists at the 2012 edition of Offshore Technology Conference
The field, which has been touted as one of Africa’s largest oil finds of the past ten years, has overcome a range of technical and commercial hurdles prior to production in a relatively short amount of time.
Speaking at the conference in Houston, Texas, Kosmos Energy senior vice president of development Dennis McLaughlin said the ambition shown in overcoming the difficulties associated with the project had given companies the push they needed to believe in the country’s vast oil potential.
s“Jubilee’s unique circumstances justified a very aggressive appraisal development strategy and dictated an unconventional approach to organising and managing the project, which ultimately was highly successful,” remarked McLaughlin.
Discovered in June 2007 and developed within less than three and a half years, offshore Ghana’s Jubilee field began delivering oil in November 2010.
Situated on two licenses, Deepwater Tano and West Cape Three Points, the project has been flowing at a production rate of 55,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) during its first phase of development.
Tullow Oil, which holds a 49.95 per cent interest in the Deepwater Tano block and a 22.9 per cent interest in West Cape Three Points, has said that it is expecting production from the field to average between 70,000 and 90,000 bpd in 2012, while the site’s success has led to further planned developments.
Phase 1A development drilling on the field began in March 2012, with the first of eight planned wells scheduled to come online in late June 2012.
Kosmos Energy has interests in both blocks and holds a 30.88 per cent interest in West Cape Three Points and 18 per cent in Deepwater Tano.
