Repair works on FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to be completed in December – Tullow

Tullow Oil Plc has announced that it will complete the repair works on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah on the Jubilee oil fields by the end 2018.

This will bring to an end the intermittent shutdowns of the Jubilee FPSO Kwame Nkrumah due to the faulty Turret Bearing which for the last two years have seen oil production stopped due to the shutdown of its operations to allow for some repair works to be done.

The continues shutdown according to the operators of the Jubilee oil fields Tullow, has affected the production of oil greatly, taking a hit on the projected revenues of both the government of Ghana and the jubilee partners.

The London-based oil firm expects to shut down production from its Jubilee field offshore Ghana three times during 2018 to enable the completion of the FPSO repair works.

According to the CEO of Tullow Ghana Kwaku Awotwi, there would be two more shutdowns this year, one schedule for next month May and the other in December, which should bring works on the Turret Bearing to an end by end of this year.

An issue with the turret bearing of the Jubilee FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, which resulted in the need to implement new operating and offtake procedures, utilizing a dynamically positioned shuttle tanker and a storage vessel, was identified in February 2016.

Tullow oil Plc, as the operator of the field, has been working around the clock since then to solve it but are certain that the repair works will be completed this year to allow for the ship to resume full operations and produce at its peak to drive maximum revenues.

In statement captioned operations update, Tullow said that preparations continued in advance of the planned turret bearing stabilization work in the first quarter of 2018, which work is expected to take place over two shutdown periods, totalling four-to-six weeks.

A further planned shutdown of approximately three weeks is also expected at the end 2018 to rotate the FPSO to its permanent heading.



Developments at TEN

Tullow expects 2018 gross production from the Jubilee field to average 75,800 bopd (net: 26,900 bopd), which takes into account the planned shut-downs associated with the turret remediation work.

The production manager of Tullow, Graham Guy, said “TEN came on stream with thirteen wells and there was a restriction but we are now out of that. Over the last couple of months, we’ve been drilling two new wells.”

According to Mr Guy, Tullow looks forward to new wells law to allow the company to fully utilize the facility.

He said there’s an aspiration of 200 barrels as Jubilee is a capacity of a hundred and twenty thousand barrels a day and production figures on jubilee today are a hundred and four thousand.

“So we’re not far away we can enjoy a good period of journey and if we can find the right places first then I’m sure that before the year would end hopefully we would be contributing two hundred thousand barrels more,” he added.

Graham Guy said the shutdown has become necessary in order to ensure that the systems are depressurized.

In its 2018 Trading Statement and Operational update, Tullow announced that it has secured the Maersk rig which commenced drilling in February. The rig, according to the company is being used across the TEN and Jubilee fields and has been contracted for up to four years with favourable early termination provisions.