The first of three planned shutdowns of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah on the Jubilee field is expected to begin on Thursday.

These planned shutdowns are expected to make way for operators on the oil field to embark on a general maintenance exercise on the vessel.

Lead Petroleum Engineer at the Ghana National Petroleum Commission, GNPC, Albert Longdon-Nyewan, disclosed this at a workshop in Accra. 

According to partners on the Jubilee field, the three shutdowns in 2018 have become necessary due to the recent challenges faced by the Floating Production and Storage Offloading vessel also known as the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.

The first shutdown begins on Thursday, 1st February and expected to resume full work on 21st of February.

The second shutdown will follow on 19th March and end on the 17th of April with the last shutdown expected in November this year.

The Jubilee partners assured that there may not be any shutdown in 2019 if all programs are carried out successfully on the FPSO. 

In an interview with JoyBusiness, Head of the Real Sector and Energy Unit at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Joseph Asenso allayed fears of any negative impact as a result of the shutdown.

According to him, the programme is well-planned and will also not have any effect on revenue projections for the year.

The annual workshop is a requirement in the Petroleum Revenue Management Law giving way for the Ministry of Finance to engage stakeholders on the report of petroleum funds.

Drilling in 2018 

Earlier in January, Tullow secured the Maersk Venturer drillship for drilling operations offshore Ghana, which are expected to start in February 2018. The rig will be used across the TEN and Jubilee fields and has been contracted for up to four years with favourable early termination provisions.

The first well planned is an Ntomme production well in the TEN fields followed by a Jubilee production well located in the north-eastern area of the field. Work is ongoing to finalize the sequence of further wells to optimize output from both the Jubilee and TEN fields.

Tullow said that together with its partners it continues to evaluate the business case for contracting a second rig that would allow the acceleration of drilling on the TEN and Jubilee fields.

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