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Tullow to get first oil from TEN in weeks

Tullow's TEN oil field could deliver first oil by July

By Daniel J. Graeber
Tullow Oil said production from TEN complex off the West African coast could start as early as July. Photo courtesy of Tullow Oil.
Tullow Oil said production from TEN complex off the West African coast could start as early as July. Photo courtesy of Tullow Oil.

LONDON, June 30 (UPI) -- One of the more lucrative oil fields off the coast of West Africa could start delivering its first batch of oil as early as July, Tullow Oil said.

Tullow started development of the Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme, or TEN field, off the coast of Ghana three years ago and expects production to peak at about 80,000 barrels of oil per day. Tullow CEO Aidan Heavey said first oil is expected in three to six weeks.

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"This transformational project has remained on schedule and on budget since it began in 2013," he said in a statement.

Production for the year should average about 23,000 bpd. Any natural gas associated with the field, meanwhile, could be exported within the next two years, though Tullow said it could get gas out early if new export facilities come online by the end of this year.

Tullow cautioned, however, that drilling in the TEN field may stand still because of border disputes between the governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast. A tribunal is reviewing the maritime boundaries, with a decision expected in late 2017.

A World Bank report notes the Ghanaian government cut its fiscal deficit by three percentage points to 7.1 percent of its total gross domestic product last year. This year, it aims to cut that to 5.3 percent of GDP, though that goal was revised lower from 5.8 percent because of a large amount of public debt.

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Oil and gas production could help spur economic growth in the years ahead.

In December, Tullow, which has headquarters in London, sent its full development plans to the Ghanaian government for the offshore Jubilee field. The company was forecasting a 2016 average production rate at Jubilee at around 101,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, but now estimates production will average around 85,000 bpd for the first half of the year.

The field's operations were restricted last year by technical issues at a gas compression system and the company in early April said part of the so-called Kwame Nkrumah floating production storage and offloading facility positioned off the Ghanaian coast was damaged and no longer functioning as designed.

"Production at Jubilee has stabilized with a gross rate in June of around 90,000 bpd," Heavy said.

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