Tullow Ghana Limited, operators of the Jubilee Oil Field, will cut gas supply to the Atuabo Gas Plant from 3 February, 2017.
The 15-day shutdown is to enable works on inter-connection between the Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) fields and the Jubilee Field for gas exportation from the FPSO Atta Mills.
The interconnection when done will also enable evacuation and export of additional natural gas from the TEN fields through the 58-km offshore pipeline of the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) to its onshore Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.
As a result of the works, natural gas production will be impeded at FPSO Kwame Nkrumah thus curtailing supply to Atuabo and subsequent curtailment of lean gas from Atuabo to the Aboadze Thermal Enclave, which presently relies on gas from Ghana Gas to generate electricity.
Meanwhile, gross production from the Jubilee field for 2016 averaged 73,700 bopd (net: 26,200 bopd). Tullow has also received reimbursements for turret remediation costs and Jubilee production field losses in 2016 of approximately $8 million (net) under the Hull and Machinery insurance policy and approximately $72 million under Tullow’s corporate Business Interruption insurance cover which equates to 4,600 bopd of net equivalent production.
The Jubilee turret remediation work is progressing as planned and the FPSO is expected to be spread-moored on its current heading by the end of January 2017. This will allow the tugs currently required to hold the vessel on a fixed heading to be removed, significantly reducing the complexity of the current operation. The capital costs associated with this and subsequent remediation works are expected to be covered by the Joint Venture Hull and Machinery insurance policy.
The next phase of the project will involve modifications to the turret systems for long¬term spread-moored operations. In addition, the assessment of the optimum long¬term heading continues, in order to determine if a rotation of the FPSO is required. Detailed planning for this continues with the JV Partners and the Ghanaian Government, with final decisions and approvals being sought in the first half of 2017, with work expected to be carried out in the second half of 2017.
It is anticipated that a facility shutdown of up to 12 weeks may be required during 2017. However, significant work is ongoing to look at ways to optimise and reduce any shutdown period. Tullow expects 2017 production from the Jubilee field to average 68,500 bopd (net: 24,300 bopd), assuming 12 weeks of shutdown associated with the next phase of remediation works.
Tullow’s corporate Business Interruption insurance cover is expected to continue to payout in respect of lost production associated to the turret remediation works, and the equivalent average annualised net production is around 12,000 bopd, increasing Tullow’s effective net production to around 36,300 bopd in 2017. TEN Following first oil from TEN in August 2016, the oil production, gas compression/injection and water injection systems were commissioned and are now operational.
