Tullow: Losses from fault at Ghanaian oil field covered

LONDON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Tullow Oil, a company operating one of the larger oil fields offshore West Africa, said it was working to recoup losses from an equipment failure this year.

Tullow in late 2015 sent its development plans to the Ghanaian government for the offshore Jubilee field. By April, it 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. Oil and natural production continued, but Tullow was forced to revise its operational procedures.

In a statement, the company said its insurance coverage to recoup costs for operating procedures and long-term solutions has been confirmed.

"As operator of the Jubilee field, Tullow will now work closely with the loss adjusters and reinsurers to establish an efficient payments schedule as remedial work continues," the company said.

The company was forecasting a 2016 average production rate at Jubilee at around 101,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. In its half-year financial report from July, the company said it expected production from Jubilee to come in at around 15 percent below initial expectations.

Tullow said it didn't expect the issue at Jubilee to have a material impact on revenue. It recorded a $30 million profit for the first half of 2016, following a loss last year of $68 million, noting pressure from lower crude oil prices and reduced output from its Jubilee oil field were offset by lower costs elsewhere in its portfolio.