Tullow Oil has announced the drilling of two more wells at Jubilee field – oil production and water injector wells – so far this year, in an effort to increase production; which would offset the near‐term production declines.
This forms part of Tullow’s new strategy for a multi-well drilling programme on both Jubilee and Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) Oil Fields – consisting of two Jubilee production wells, one Jubilee water injector well, and one TEN gas injector well.
The additional producing well brings to a total of 18 wells at Jubilee – although not all are active, mainly due to flow stability – while the water injector wells stand at 13 and 3-gas injectors.
In a statement to investors, Chief Executive Officer-Tullow Oil PLC, Rahul Dhir said: “We have successfully drilled the first Jubilee production well and the Jubilee water injector well, and the reservoirs encountered are in line with expectations. The rig will now carry out the completion of these two wells with tie‐in and start‐up of both wells expected in the third quarter of 2021”.
The Jubilee field is located 60km offshore between the Deepwater Tano and West Cape Three Points blocks in Ghana, and has a recoverable reserve estimated to be more than 370 million barrels, with an upside potential of 1.8 billion barrels. It is located at a water-depth of 1,100m.
This will be the first time since 2013 that the oil giant sees a consistent drilling programme, although it may be smaller than what the company did in 2011 and 2012; but given the existing infrastructure in place, it stands to be very profitable.
It is expected that the new two production wells in Jubilee will add about 8,000 barrels per day (bopd) in the first year, while the water injector will also add 8,000 bopd. Similarly, the gas injection at TEN will add about 6,000 bopd to the two wells in Jubilee, according to the company’s 2019 full year result. “This well campaign is expected to begin offsetting near‐term production decline; and further wells in 2022 will see production materially recover and be sustained for the long-term.”
Tullow has indicated that lessons learned from the previous drilling programme will be incorporated, and it is targetting a 20% to 30% reduction in drilling costs through simplified well designs, improved rig reliability, and supply chain savings.
The 2021 Ghana offshore drilling campaign is the first part of Tullow’s 10-year Business Plan that was presented at Tullow’s Capital Markets Day in November last year. Throughout this campaign, Tullow plans to continue implementing its Shared Prosperity strategy through a strong local content programme with suppliers in Ghana; the professional and technical development of Ghanaian nationals; and continued investment in STEM education, enterprise development, and shared infrastructure.
