FLASHBACK: President J.E.A. Mills (2nd R) turns the valve to flag off first oil production at FPSO Kwame Nkrumah oil rig at the Jubilee field in Takoradi Plans are underway for Ghana to acquire a new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in view of the high prospects of starting full production at new oil discovery sites.

The initiative to acquire a second FPSO with an estimated capacity to process 100,000 barrels of oil per day is currently at the evaluation stage, after which a report will be presented to the government for approval.

The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, which is currently operational at the Jubilee Field, has a capacity to process 120,000 barrels of oil per day, and together with the new FPSO, processing capacity will be increased to 220,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tullow Oil plc, Mr Aidan Heavey, who made this known in Accra Thursday, said detailed information on the new FPSO, such as where it would be assembled, the possibility of the involvement of Ghanaians in the assembling and the cost involved, would be known after the evaluation.

The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, which is 65 metres wide, 330 metres long and about the size of three standard football fields put together, is estimated at US$875 million.

At the moment, the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah is producing below capacity at 70,000 barrels of oil per day but it is expected to hit the 90,000 barrels mark by the end of this year and full capacity in 2013.

Mr Heavey was interacting with journalists after the first-ever investor forum organised by Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL) to appraise its shareholders on the company’s performance in 2011, one year after listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

The investor forum comes ahead of the annual general meeting of Tullow Oil plc scheduled to take place in London on May 16, 2012.

Tullow has made significant progress in its appraisal, drilling and flow testing of the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme fields, collectively known as the TEN Project, and it anticipates full production of the three oil fields very soon.

Mr Heavey said Tullow was finalising a plan for the development of the TEN Project, after which it would submit the document to the government for approval.

He said if the government approved the plan by the end of this year, it was most likely the first oil from the three fields would flow after 30 months.

He said Ghana was in a good position because it had found oil at the right time, adding that the actual value of the country’s oil was higher than that of other countries in terms of quality, not quantity.

According to the performance overview of Tullow Oil plc for 2011, the company recorded positive financial results, with sales revenue increasing by 111 per cent to $2.3 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 2010.

Profit for the year also increased by 670 per cent to $689 million, far more than the $90 million recorded in 2010.

The positive outlook of the company in the year under review notwithstanding, some shareholders at the investor forum were worried about the value of their shares, given the continuous depreciation of the cedi against the major foreign currencies.

Others wanted to know the current state of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah in respect of reports that the calibrator on the vessel used to measure the quantity of oil loaded into oil vessels was faulty, creating fears that Ghana might be losing therefrom.

Responding, officials of Tullow assured the shareholders that the value of their shares was safe from the depreciation of the cedi and advised them to contact stock brokers for assistance regarding their share value and other stock-related matters.

On the faulty calibrator on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, the Tullow officials said although there was some difficulty with the equipment, it would not result in any financial loss to Ghana, considering the fact that the government and the other Jubilee partners had representatives who monitored the operations of the oil producing vessel.

graphic.com.gh