Offshore staff
LONDON – BW Offshore has shut down the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien at the CNR International-operated Espoir field offshore Côte d’Ivoire for two more months, said partner Tullow Oil in its latest results statement.
In mid-January, the vessel had to be shut-in for around four weeks after a hydrocarbons leak onboard led to two fatalities. The current two-month suspension will allow for further remediation work to be performed for vessel class certification purposes.
CNR and Tullow are working with BW Offshore on the optimum remediation plan, with work likely to start next year.
At the Tullow-operated Jubilee field offshore Ghana, first-half production averaged around 70,600 b/d, helped by good facility uptime and well performance. A planned maintenance shutdown has been deferred by six months to the first half, in order to maximize work achievable so that a gas enhancement works program that had been planned for 2023 can be brought forward.
An expected easing in Ghana’s COVID-19 restrictions should also lead to a more efficient work program during the planned shutdown period.
As for the current new drilling program, the second well, the J-55 water injector, should come online in the next few weeks and will be paired with an existing producer.
Last month, the rig drilled the top hole of the next Jubilee producer well, J-57-P, which should go online in early 2022.
At the TEN fields development, production averaged 37,000 b/d during H1. This month, drilling of the Ntomme gas injector well (Nt-06) reached TD with completion expected in October. The well should keep production broadly flat into 2022.
Both the FPSOs at Jubilee and TEN averaged 98% uptime in the first half of 2021. Gas offtake from the government of Ghana is averaging around 110 MMcf/d and improved Jubilee water injection rates continue to be above 200,000 b/d.
Offshore Mauritania, Tullow is preparing for a decommissioning program on the Banda and Tiof fields, due to start early next year, subject to government approval. Full abandonment of the Petronas-operated Chinguetti field wells finished in August. The focus is now on clearing subsea infrastructure from the seabed in 2022.
Offshore South America, Tullow is looking to mitigate capital exposure from historical work commitments of around $50 million next year through farm-downs. These include the planned Beebei-Potaro exploration well on the Kanuku block off Guyana, targeting the prolific Cretaceous light oil play in the Guyana-Suriname basin, and seismic acquisition over block MLO 122 off Argentina.
Tullow has notified the government of Suriname of its decision to relinquish block 62, and will exit the license in October.
Also, Tullow CFO and executive director Les Wood will step down and is expected to leave the company by the end of March 2022.
09/15/2021
