Tullow Oil has achieved first oil from the Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) fields offshore Ghana with MODEC’s Prof. John Evans Atta Mills floating production and storage offloading (FPSO) vessel.
Prof. John Evans Atta, image from Tullow. |
The TEN start-up process, which is now well advanced, is expected to ramp-up oil production gradually towards the FPSO capacity of 80,000 b/d through the remainder of the year, Tullow said. The TEN average in 2016 is anticipated to be 23,000 b/d gross, and 11,000 b/d net for Tullow.
The Prof. John Evans Atta Mills is moored some 60km offshore Western Ghana at about 1500m water depth. In addition to the capability of processing 80,000 b/d, the FPSO is also able to process 180 MMcf/d of natural gas, and has the storage capacity of approximately 1.7 MMbbl of crude oil.
The Prof. John Evans Atta Mills is under a 10-year charter contract, with options to extend every year thereafter, up to 10 additional years.
The Independent explorer expects TEN to boost its net production by some 60% when it reaches the facility capacity.
“This is an important moment for Tullow as production begins from our second operated development in Ghana,” Aidan Heavey, Tullow CEO said.
The video below, provided by Tullow, marks the TEN milestone of the project achieving first oil flow, just three years following the plan of development approval from the government of Ghana. TEN began on time and on budget. The discovery was made in 2009.
Tullow is the operator of the TEN fields and holds a 47.175% stake. Partners include Anadarko (17%), Kosmos Energy (17%), Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (15%) and PetroSA (3.875%).
In addition to TEN, Tullow also has its nearby Jubliee field, which is also produced using a FPSO, Modec’s Kwame Nkrumah MV21 that started oil production in 2010. Higher production from is anticipated to 85,000 b/d, Tullow said in July. The vessel experienced some issues with its turret, which began in February. Since then, the company has initiated new procedures, however, its 1H 2016 oil production suffered at an average of 51,800 b/d.
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