Oil production now over 105, 000 barrels per day

Oil production on Ghana's Jubilee Oil Field is now in excess of 105,000 barrels per day (bpd), one of the partners, Kosmos Energy, has announced.

The lead operator on the Jubilee Field, Tullow Oil, in a report last week, said production had reached 90,000 bpd because the much anticipated Jubilee Phase 1A project had finally come on stream.

It said production on the Phase 1A was now at a rate of 16,500 bpd boosting total output on the field to 90,000 bpd.

In its update on the company's global operations last Wednesday, Kosmos Energy said production was in excess of 105,000 bpd.

The two figures from Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil are indicative that production levels on the field seem to have improved again.

When Ghana begun the commercial production of oil in December 2010, it was expected to produce 120,000 bpd but that could not materialize as a result of some technical challenges in the oil-producing wells.

According to Kosmos Energy, a second Phase 1A production well was expected to be online by the end of January 2013, with the remainder to be drilled, completed and inaugurated in the first half of 2013.

Kosmos has a 24-per cent participating interest in the Jubilee Field.

It quoted Mr Darrell McKenna, the Chief Operating Officer of the company, as saying that "exiting the year with Jubilee production at its highest-ever level highlights K,osmos and the entire Jubilee team's successful execution of our Phase 1 enhancement programme and the drilling and completion of new wells in Phase 1A".

"We have now produced over 50 million barrels of oil at the field. The new production capacity demonstrates that we have not only solved the well productivity issues; it also confirms excellent reservoir performance.

"Delivery of our project objectives at this world-class field positions us extremely well from an operational and financial standpoint as we exit the year and commence 2013," Mr McKenna said.