Tullow Oil has said it will be committing a total of $250 million to Ghana's oil fields this year.

According to Tullow, the move has become necessary due to the strong economic prospects in Ghana's oil and gas sector.

Currently, Tullow is producing over 100,000 barrels of oil per day from the Jubilee Field.

Speaking at a media engagement in Accra on Thursday, 23 May 2019, Group CEO of Tullow, Mr Paul McDade, said the company is poised to increase oil production at the Jubilee and TEN fields.

He said: “The majority of the funding is going towards drilling. We have two large offshore drillships working now and has been working since 2018 drilling wells on both Jubilee and TEN. So, as we drill the wells, that allows us to increase production and as reported today, Jubilee production is about 100,000 barrels a day and production at TEN is about 70,000 barrels a day, so, we are producing at combined levels 170,000 barrels a day. And our $250 million a year in 2019, is focused on drilling enough wells to not only sustain our oil production but try and go even further. We are hopeful, we’ll get 80,000 barrels a day from TEN in 2019.”

For his part, the Executive Vice-President of Tullow Ghana, Mr Kweku Awotwi touched on the company’s chances in the competitive bidding of Block 3 in the upstream petroleum sector alongside ENI.

Mr Awotwi said: “Tullow bid for Block 3 and the other company that bid was ENI, so, today, they are the only two companies that bid for Block 3. From that point of view, you can say we have a 50-50 chance. But as we know, it all depends on how the government evaluates these bids.

“What I can say is that we think we’ve been quite aggressive in our bid, we’ve been here a long time, we know the area very well and, so, we have a big programme that expects us to start drilling wells almost immediately. Our plan is to start it in 2020. We hope the government looks favourably on that and say we are the right company to work with but the final decision is with the government.”

Talking about bidding for oil contracts in the country, Mr Awotwi said: “I think the industry felt it was a good idea to do a competitive bid round. What happened in the past – direct negotiations – that made sense at the time because Ghana hadn’t found oil and gas, so, it was not an attractive destination for many people but as more and more companies come in, you’ve got to find a way to evaluate, so, Tullow felt the competitive bid round was a good way forward”.

Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM