Tullow Oil has declared force majeure on two cargoes from its Jubilee development, offshore Ghana, after issues with a turret bearing on the Kwame Nkrumah floating storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, according to news reports.
The Kwame Nkrumah, from Tullow. |
The company has deferred two liftings totaling more than 1.6 MMbbl, while it looks to implement new operating procedures for off-take from the FPSO.
The problem with the bearing arose mid-February, ahead of planned maintenance on the FPSO, set to start 20 March. Oil and gas export will continue until the maintenance, which involves a planned shutdown, starts.
“New procedures are required following deterioration in the condition of the turret bearing,” Tullow Ghana said in a statement. “We are planning to recommence liftings towards the end of the shutdown once the new operating procedures and vessels are in place
According to Tullow, its full 2016 production levels will be unaffected with negligible impact on short-term Jubilee production.
“With an average of 100,000 b/d production, the two-week production, which lifting has been deferred, will mean the FPSO is full,” the company said, according to The Finder.
In July 2015, the Kwame Nkrumah suffered issues with its gas compressor, resulting in a gas export outage from 3 July, and restraining oil production. Gas export resumed 3 August and steadily increased to about 100 MMscf/d, with oil production oil returning to pre-outage levels (average production in 2014 was 102,000 b/d).
The Jubilee field was discovered in 2007, with production starting in 2010.
Tullow is the operator of the field with 35.48% interest. Partners include Kosmos (24.08%), Anadarko (24.08%), GNPC (13.64%) and Petro SA with (2.73%).
Also offshore Ghana, the Prof. John Atta Mills FPSO arrived earlier this month at Tullow's TEN project , after a five week voyage from Singapore. First oil from the development is on track for July/August.
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