Tullow bags several oil & gas licence extensions in Gabon

Tullow Oil Gabon, a subsidiary of the UK-headquartered oil and gas company Tullow Oil, has gained approval from the government of Gabon for the extension of several of its Gabon licences to 2046. This further underpins the Tchatamba facilities as a core hub for the company.

According to Tullow, these licence extensions increase the value of its resource base through the addition of around 5 mmbbls net 2P reserves that will deliver about 100 per cent 2P reserves replacement in Gabon this year.

This is in line with the firm’s strategy to focus on its high-return production assets in Africa and unlock value through the optimisation of its non-operated portfolio. Tullow is adamant that these extensions reflect the future potential of the reserves and resources across the Gabonese assets and the longevity of the Tchatamba facilities as a core hub.

In a bid to place the Tchatamba facilities in this position while simplifying its equity ownership across key fields in Gabon, Tullow agreed to a cashless asset swap in April 2023 with Perenco, which involves an exchange of participating interests held by both companies in certain licences in Gabon.  The completion of the transfer is expected by the end of 2023

This deal entails assigning and transferring Tullow Gabon’s existing percentage participating interests in the Limande, Turnix, Moba and Oba assets and part of its existing percentage of the Simba assets to Perenco. In turn, Tullow will get the assignment and transfer of Perenco’s part of the existing percentage participating interests in each of the Kowe (Tchatamba) and DE8 assets, resulting in post-completion holdings of 40 per cent for Tullow Gabon.

The Tchatamba complex consists of three fields: Tchatamba Marin, Tchatamba South and Tchatamba West, which are located approximately 30 km offshore Gabon within water depths of around 50 m and are fully contained within the Kowe licence. The fields are subdivided into four main producing reservoirs: Anguille, Azile, Cap Lopez and Madiela.

The Tchatamba Complex started production from Tchatamba Marin in 1998, followed by South in 1999 and West in 2000. Currently, there are a total of 19 development wells in the fields.

The development of the fields consists of two mobile offshore production units (MOPU) at Marin, a processing platform at South, which is tied into Marin and a wellhead platform at West tied back to Marin. The oil is exported via a pipeline to shore and onto the FSO Fernan Vaz.