Page 5 - AfrOil Week 27
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AfrOil CommEntaRy AfrOil
PGS has also acquired data on Cote d’Ivoire, completing this in April this year.
Seismic was also shot by ION Geophysical, with the company kicking off its 2D seismic work on 7,200 km of data in May 2018. At the time, ION said the country was believed to have 5-7bn barrels of oil and 170bn cm of gas.
There are two successful play types in the country, ION said. e rst has been syn-ri plays in the Lower Cretaceous, with reservoirs in the Barremian to Albian. e second, demon- strated by Jubilee, is a post-ri slope and basin oor fan, with clastic turbidite reservoirs, mostly Late Cretaceous.
e discovery of Jubilee in 2007 was a major
move forward for exploration in West Africa – and beyond – sparking a sustained interest in similar play types. at said, it has been harder than expected to replicate this discovery, though.
Expansion
Earlier this year, the Ghanaian government said it expected output to expand from 196,000 bpd this year to 420,000 bpd in 2023. It has projected this will rise further, to 500,000 bpd by 2025.
Production in 2018 was 170,000 bpd, accord- ing to the Ministry of Finance, from 161,000 bpd in 2017. is provided revenues of $977mn in 2018, from $540mn in 2017, driven largely by an increase in prices per barrel.
Part of this will be driven by Aker Ener- gy’s plans for the Deepwater Tano Cape ree Points (DWTCT) block. Aker Energy took over the Pecan eld, discovered by the US’ hess, in 2017. e Norwegian company completed its appraisal drilling campaign in April and sub- mitted a plan for development and operations to the government.
Assuming a nal investment decision (FID) this year, production should start around 2022.
Other companies are working on explora- tion, though. ExxonMobil signed a deal with GNPC in early 2018 on the Deep Water Cape ree Points block. e US super-major took an 80% stake, while GNPC had 15% and Ghana Oil O shore held the remaining 5%. ExxonMobil was reported to have opened an o ce in Ghana recently, with plans for seismic acquisition to begin this year.
Nigeria’s AMNI Petroleum is also working on plans to drill on its Central Tano block, with the aim to spud before the end of the year.
Week 27 09•July•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5
