Second well comes online off Ghana with two more waiting in the wings

UK-headquartered oil and gas company Tullow Oil has brought on stream the second of four wells on a field located offshore Ghana while the remaining two are slated to come online later this year.

The intention to drill these four wells was revealed in November 2022. Tullow announced the start of production from the first well at the Jubilee South East (JSE) project on Friday, 14 July 2023. The second well was anticipated to come on stream later in July 2023, taking Jubilee production to over 100,000 bopd gross.

In an update on Monday, 17 July 2023, Tullow confirmed that the gross production from the field had surpassed 100,000 bopd, after a second JSE production well was brought on stream. According to the company, both of the JSE wells are performing in line with expectations and have increased production rates by around 50 per cent compared to the first half of 2023. Two remaining wells are on track to be tied in during the remainder of the year, says the firm.

Rahul Dhir, Tullow’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Reaching production of over 100,000 bopd from the Jubilee field is a major milestone for Tullow, our partners, and for Ghana. I look forward to working with our partners to sustain these higher levels of production for several years and to realise the full potential of the Jubilee resource base. For Tullow, delivery of this step up in production is a key part of our business plan, in line with our commitment to deliver over $800 million of free cash flow between 2023 to 2025.”

Furthermore, Tullow and its joint venture (JV) partners – Kosmos Energy, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Petro and Jubilee Oil Holdings – plan to maintain this increased level of production at Jubilee over the next few years through an ongoing infill drilling programme. 

The Jubilee field was discovered in 2007. In July 2009, the Minister of Energy approved the Phase 1 plan of development which included the use of an FPSO with a facility capacity of 120,000 bopd. The field came on stream in December 2010.

Petrofac was selected in July 2022 to provide operations, maintenance and technical support for the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah at Jubilee. On the other hand, Sparrows Group was picked to provide crane maintenance services onboard the FPSO under a two-year contract.