17th Jun '09 by oilretire

47 comments 15235 reads

Somewhere to discuss and post articles related to Ghana exploration, operations and the Jubilee project

http://www.tullowoil.com/tlw/operations/af/ghana/

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Oilretire

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47 comments

JPGH

11th Dec '09

There are numerous development options here for TLW
(i) wait for Jubilee to come off plateau a bit and do a longer distance subsea tie-back to exisitng FPSO. 17-18 API oil is in the heavy oil catagory so will not be cheap to do this and will take too long to wait for suitable window
(ii) as reserves are edging towards 100 MMbbl then they are in FPSO territory ([particularly if crude is heavy and they dont want to tie back to Jubilee) and can consider a standalone subsea/FPSO development. Can also import some of Jubilee's associated gas for power/gas lift/gas injection/flowline heating ...etc.

TLW can also consider for (i) mixing the crudes together to boost ODUM revenues.

JPGH - optimistic for a quicker development here

doverbeach

23rd Dec '09

Jubillee extension confirmed by today's Mahogany Deep-2 well (http://www.tullowoil.com/tlw/media/news/2009/2009-12-23/) which was a big step out: 12m net pay at the location shown as MD2 on slide 23 here http://www.investis.com/tlw/siteware/2009_HY_Master_Slides_final.pdf

The Deep targets were water bearing but not in connection with the original Mahogany Deep finds. Disappointing, but outweighed by the good news on Jubillee.

db

oilretire

6th Jan '10

BP scrapped plans to bid for Kosmos Energy’s stake in Ghana’s Jubilee field, two people familiar with the matter said.

BP’s withdrawal may pave the way for ExxonMobil’s’s planned buy of Kosmos’s Jubilee stake for at least $4 billion, Bloomberg reported..........

http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article202720.ece?

fuiseog

7th Jan '10

Davy give a different slant on BP's withdrawal.

"Reports indicate that joint talks between BP and the Ghanaian National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to launch a joint bid for the circa 24% Kosmos stake that is for sale have concluded without agreement. While, in theory, this does not preclude BP from making a bid in its own right, it may mean that ExxonMobil is now the front runner to buy the Kosmos stake which has been valued at between $4bn and $5bn."

fuiseog

doverbeach

21st Jan '10

Bother Uganda politics, Ghana produces yet another discovery! http://www.investegate.co.uk/index.aspx?searchtype=3&words=COP,AFR,AEX,NPE,SQZ,MXP,AUL,TLW,JKX,NOP,HAWK,MRS,LAM,EO.&Go=

Tullow's RNS:

a significant combined hydrocarbon column. Results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluids establish that Tweneboa is a major oil and gas-condensate field.

The well has encountered a gross reservoir interval of 153 metres containing 32 metres of net hydrocarbon pay in stacked reservoir sandstones, comprising a 17 metre oil bearing zone below a 15 metre gas-condensate bearing zone.

A combined hydrocarbon column of at least 350 metres has been established between the lowest known oil in Tweneboa-2 and the top of the gas-condensate at Tweneboa-1, demonstrating this is a highly prospective and extensive turbidite fan system that will be evaluated with additional drilling.

Following completion of logging operations the well will be deepened to test further exploration potential beneath the Tweneboa field. ...

Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, said:

"Tweneboa-2 was a bold step-out which has successfully proven the significant extent of a major new oil and gas-condensate field offshore Ghana... We look forward to further appraising this discovery later in the year."

Tweneboa-2 was a very important well. See post 21 above - Tullow think that Tweneboa could be as big as the Jubilee field. And Tullow also have 50% of it (only 35% of Jubilee) :)

ohisay

21st Jan '10

In reply to doverbeach (post #32)

And Analyst comment.

http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&cb=1264066422&article=41195806&symbol=L^TLW

"There is little doubt that this is a significantly positive result, in particular the higher liquids yield is a real plus," said Royal Bank of Scotland analyst Phil Corbett. The low end of the resource estimate for the field may grow from 50 million barrels equivalent to 150 million to 200 million boe; the mid-range estimate may grow from 250 million boe to 350 million to 400 million boe; but the top-end estimate will probably remain unchanged at 1.4 billion boe, he said.

The proportion of liquids--oil or condensate--to gas in the field may double from 30% to 60%, he added. Hydrocarbon liquids have a higher value than gas and are easier to develop in offshore areas lacking gas infrastructure like Ghana.

oilretire

20th Mar '10

There have been so many linked with the Kosmos Jubilee stake that I forget if these have already!?

Now it's KNOC in some kind of combined deal with GNPC

http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article209251.ece

"(The Koreans) have expressed interest in buying a portion of it if we acquire it," Manu said.

doverbeach

20th Apr '10

Well it had to happen at some time - Dahoma-1 failure. http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201004200700114352K

Dahoma-1 exploration well in the West Cape Three Points licence encountered water bearing reservoirs.

The Dahoma-1 exploration well was drilled 11 kilometres south of Mahogany-3 to explore a down-dip satellite prospect within the southeast Jubilee area, outside of the main Jubilee Unit Area. It intersected 30 metres of good quality sandstone reservoir below a possible oil-water contact and some indications of oil migration point to good potential for oil trapped up-dip.

Angus making the best possible job of it:

We now look forward to incorporating the data from this well and to pursuing the largely independent and considerable remaining prospectivity in the West Cape Three Points block which we will be drilling through 2010. [my bold]

emptyend

20th Apr '10

pursuing the largely independent and considerable remaining prospectivity

Theres a word that begs a bunch of questions!!

Which aspects are NOT independent then??

One for you, db?

rgds

doverbeach

8th Jul '10

A belated reply to ee, I missed the question originally.Luckily I can now point at an excellent detailed presentation that answers the question!

Slides 14-28 cover the various Ghana prospects. (Other West Africa Transform Margin and the sister plays across the Atlantic are on slides 153-160).

Slide 19 shows a cross-section through Jubilee and its potential extensions:

- Onyina (which will be next to be drilled after Owo completes) is clearly independent. Slide 17 gives details

- Sapele according to slide 16 and 19 has clearly independent sands

- South Central Channel also independent, see slide 20

- Dahoma Up-dip is the only prospect which is related, and that is considered to have been de-risked by Dahoma-1, see slide 19

Away from this area, the other West Cape Three Points prospects are independent, see slide 20. As are the other Deep Water Tano prospects, see slide 21, where a key well is being drilled on Owo at the moment

Owo-1 will „make or break? the P10 case: 1.4bnboe

JPGH

25th Jul '10

Some news and discussion on Tullow completion probelms in Jubilee over on TMF. Link http://tiny.cc/Ghana for those interested.

Scroll down to xxnjr post

One that could perhaps be sorely needed. I've heard rumblings that Anadarko weren't exactly fans of Tullow's operatorship of the Jubilee Phase 1 development. OK, TLW have done very well with development well drilling but they have had a serious setback with the more complex completion work. Basically the project went $100m over budget just from the first completion and a 20Kbopd well was turned into a 10Kboepd well. Just think about that: $100m over budget on one well and J01 productivity halved. The whole sorry saga is here:-

http://files.the-group.net/library/tullow/ghana/pdfs/t_jubilee_progress2.pdf

....and to my partner politik rant as well!!

JPGH

doverbeach

26th Jul '10

Well after that, time for some GREAT news:

Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) announces that the Owo-1 exploration well in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana has intersected a significant column of excellent quality light oil. Results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluids have established Owo as a major new oil field requiring further appraisal.

The deviated well, located approximately 6km to the west of the Tweneboa wells, has encountered a gross vertical reservoir interval of 154 metres containing 53 metres of net oil pay in two zones of high quality stacked reservoir sandstones. Pressure data indicates that these zones are part of the same accumulation and samples show that it is a light oil of between 33 and 36 degrees API.

This is a realy important well for Tullow and its partners. Tullow has 50% in this block, Anardarko 18%. See slide 24 here for a map and some details and slide 28:

Greater Tweneboa Resources: 100-400-1,400 mmboe (P90-P50-P10)
•Owo-1 will „make or break? the upside

So they are now side-tracking Owo-1 to the east, then the rig moves to Onyina, a high-risk, high reward, large Campanian Fan prospect in the same block, see slides 16 & 17.

Angus McCoss, Tullow's Exploration director commented:

"Owo-1 has made a very substantial light oil discovery and continues the success of Tullow's Equatorial Atlantic exploration campaign in West Africa. Given this success, we are immediately drilling an appraisal sidetrack to further assess the size of this find. Accelerated appraisal drilling will now focus on maturing the resources in both Owo and the adjacent Tweneboa accumulation towards commercialisation."

And Anardarko are sounding happy as well:

"Building on the success of Jubilee and Tweneboa, Owo marks the partnership's third substantial discovery offshore Ghana and continues to enhance the gross resource potential of this prolific area and validate the quality of our geologic models," said Bob Daniels, Anadarko Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Exploration.

ohisay

26th Jul '10

Davy comment this morning.

http://www.davy.ie/Generic?page=MorningNews4

ANALYSIS: The Greater Tweneboa Area now has two distinct discoveries: a gas condensate and oil field at Tweneboa and this new oil field at Owo. Existing guidance on scale for the area was a range of 100-1,400m barrels of oil equivalent, with a P50 estimate of 400m barrels; we have estimated previously that Owo accounts for approximately two-thirds of the potential billion barrels of upside in the area. Today's result does not prove the full upside case but certainly supports it as a possibility.

DAVY VIEW: This is a very positive initial result from a much-anticipated, high-impact well. There is still work to do before we get a clear picture of the value of Owo, but it obviously has potential to be a material discovery for Tullow with a significant positive impact on valuation and that can contribute to a step-up in medium-term production. We are increasing our NAV by 55p per share to 1,505p per share and note further potential upside of over 100p per share from appraisal drilling in the Greater Tweneboa Area. We retain our 'outperform' recommendation on Tullow.

oilretire

26th Oct '10

Contract for part of the pipeline to future onshore gas plant. I guess getting the deep water section in now whilst the capability is in the area ? Or are the gas plant plans really that far advanced?

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101025007111/en/Technip-awarded-pipe-lay-contract-Ghana

The contract covers the engineering, welding and installation of a 14 kilometer-long rigid steel flowline(2) as well as the engineering, fabrication and installation of one PLET(3). The flowline will constitute the deep water section of a pipeline which will be used to pipe natural gas from the Jubilee field to the future onshore processing plant.

ManSiarad

2nd Nov '10

All very quiet here, despite Jubilee production approaching.

However, this story suggests that the Kosmos saga is far from over:

http://www.energy-pedia.com/article.aspx?articleid=142774

Ghana: GNPC and CNOOC bid for Kosmos Energy's Ghana assets fails

01 Nov 2010

State-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corp (GNPC) and China's CNOOC have made an unsuccessful $5 billion joint bid to buy Kosmos Energy's stake in one of Africa's most promising oil regions, a GNPC official said Monday.

The deal, which would have included Kosmos Energy's stake in the Jubilee field, once sought by ExxonMobil, is a sign of the developing competition between Western and Asian oil companies for Africa's oil wealth. Analysts say, however, that the rejection by Kosmos is only a temporary setback for the bidders...

The joint bid from GNPC and CNOOC is the latest sign of Chinese interest in one of the most promising frontiers for offshore oil exploration. In September, China Export Import Bank loaned Ghana $10.4 billion for infrastructure projects, and the China Development Bank provided a separate $3 billion loan for the development of the country's oil and gas sector. By revealing that their bid failed, CNOOC and GNPC may be trying to pressure Kosmos, which is backed by private equity firms Blackstone Group and Warburg Pincus, into selling.

'They are putting under the sunlight that there is a credible bid that is even higher than the one Kosmos had from Exxon,' Jefferies & Co. analyst Subash Chandra said. 'Everyone knows now that there is a deal on the table'.

ohisay

26th Nov '10

Finally into production on time..

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE6AO23Z20101125

(Reuters) - Ghana said on Thursday it expected first oil from its Jubilee offshore field to be pumped on Dec. 17, in line with earlier forecasts that it would take its place as a producer by year-end.
"First oil is expected December 17 and the government and all the Jubilee partners are looking forward to this day," Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told Reuters.
The field is operated by UK-listed Tullow Oil (TLW.L: Quote) and is estimated to hold up to 1.8 billion barrels with a lifespan of 20 years.
Tullow confirmed on Thursday the start-up was on target and that testing of machinery had been successful.

Production is expected to normalise at 120,000 barrels per day in the first phase and could ramp up to 250,000 barrels per day after three years.

oilretire

26th Nov '10

I think the 17th might be the 'official ceremony' where the president pretends to turn on the oil flow. Seems optimistic to pin it down to a certain date even at this stage when you have such a large commissioning project ongoing.

More likely to be a bit earlier (even if it’s just one well on to prove top side processes are working) than the 17th as suggested in this article

http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE6AP00K201...

Tullow confirmed on Thursday production start-up was on target and that testing of machinery so far had been successful.

"We are ready to pump first oil any moment from the first week of December," a senior Tullow manager told Reuters.

Still as you say, nice to see start up still on schedule :-)

oilretire

29th Nov '10

Jubillee first oil was yesterday technically. There now follows a period of commissioning prior to a 'mock' start up on the 15th Dec when the TV cameras & the President turn up for an official ceremony & then it's 55000bbl/d for starters

http://www.investegate.co.uk/article.aspx?id=201011291432049815W&fe=1

Tullow Oil plc (Tullow), Anadarko Petroleum, Kosmos Energy, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Sabre Oil and Gas and E.O. Group announce that First Oil from the Jubilee field, offshore Ghana, is scheduled for 15 December 2010...........

This historic event will be celebrated at a ceremony hosted by His Excellency John Atta Mills, President of Ghana. It will be broadcast live on Ghana TV and can be followed on Tullow's Ghana website (www.tullowoil.com/Ghana).

In preparation, oil was produced to the FPSO2 yesterday and is being used to commission processing systems and facilities ahead of First Oil. Immediately after First Oil, the field will be capable of flowing up to 55,000 barrels of oil per day but as new wells are completed over a three to six month period, production will increase to 120,000 barrels per day.

doverbeach

10th Feb '11

Good result from Teak today:

In the shallower Campanian-aged reservoirs, the well intersected 6 metres of oil pay in the upper zone and 33 metres of gas pay with an underlying 15 metre 40 degree API oil leg, in the lower zone. In the deeper stratigraphic Turonian-aged reservoirs, the well intersected 14 metres of gas-condensate pay in two separate zones and 5 metres of 32 degree API oil pay in a deeper level.

The up-dip combination structural and stratigraphic Campanian trap is potentially 50 sqkm in area and will be the subject of further appraisal activity. Interpretation of the potential extent of each of the deeper Turonian zones is ongoing.

Anguss McCoss feeling very happy:

Success in all five of the targeted reservoirs, encountering 73 metres of total net pay, is an excellent outcome for the Teak-1 well and a great start to our 2011 multi-well exploration campaign in the West Cape Three Points licence. The significant potential of this discovery, up-dip of Jubilee, will be appraised during 2011 and 2012 once the current drill-out campaign has been completed.

Discoveries in the both the Campanian and Turonian is good and could be much better than good if the Turonian is in communication with Jubilee. More details on slide 18 here.

Rig goes to drill Teak-2 targeting both Campanian and Turonian in a separate fault block between Teak-1 and the Jubilee field.

doverbeach

3rd Mar '11

Huge result from Enyenra-2a appraisal well today.This was 7 k south of Owo. It found 21 metres of net oil pay in the Upper Channel and 11 metres of net oil pay in the Lower Channel.Upper Channel in communication with Owo-1, 7k to the north. Lower Channel may also be in communication with the deeper pools seen in Owo-1 and its sidetrack. The well also tested a deeper Turonian fan where five metres of gas-condensate bearing sandstones were intersected. Interpretation of the extent and thickness of this zone away from the well is ongoing.

As Angus McCoss (Exploration Director) says:

The discovery of oil this far down-dip in Enyenra-2A, and the confirmation of its communication with the Owo-1 oil discovery, is an exceptional result. This represents a major step forward in the appraisal of the Enyenra-Tweneboa area and is highly encouraging for our target to declare commerciality later this year.

The next appraisal well here will be Enyenra-3 - well to the north of Owo.

Map from recent Anardarko presentation:

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Oilretire

47 comments

Ghana: GNPC and CNOOC bid for Kosmos Energy's Ghana assets fails

01 Nov 2010

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