Up to four floating production ships (FPSOs) may be needed for the huge Jubilee multi-fields project offshore Ghana, according to Bob Daniel, Anadarko senior VP worldwide exploration.
Energy estimates that this could take the eventual capital investment in the project to more than $10billion and make it one of the largest developments ever in the region.
There are currently three discoveries at the heart of the Jubilee project: Mahogany, Hydeua and Odum. Early indications are that they are geologically connected and that this points to substantial reserves upside.
The consortium behind the project is to take a staged approach and is out to the market for phase one of the project. This will comprise a 120,000 barrels per day capacity FPSO and suite of subsea wells. First oil is targeted for 2010.
A phase two is inevitable, again based on an FPSO and subsea wells suite; the third and fourth phases are contingent on appraisal work taking the reserves estimate for the now three fields complex to about 2billion barrels of oil, and perhaps more as appraisal work continues. Production could hit 480,000bpd.
A drill-stem test of the Mahogany-2 well, drilled only weeks ago by the drillship, Songa Saturn, was imminent at the time of writing.
The Ghana project can be expected to generate outstanding opportunities for the supply chain, especially on the subsea side. Acergy, Subsea 7 and Technip should be in pole position to win a substantial chunk of the work, either jointly or severally in competition. This means plenty of work for Aberdeen’s “Surf City” contingent.
The FPSO work will inevitably go to East Asian yards, though it is not yet known whether the engineering work will be done in the UK or the US. Either way, UK groups Amec and John Wood Group could be well placed to secure such work, either through London/Aberdeen or via their Houston satellites.
The high-low recoverable reserves estimate for the Jubilee project is 500million to 1.8billion barrels of oil, according to London-listed Irish company Tullow, which is a key stakeholder offshore Ghana, Aberdeen’s Dana Petroleum having dropped the acreage some years ago.
Anadarko’s Bob Daniel was coy about the reserves numbers at the UBS conference on May 22.
He told delegates: “We have not upgraded our numbers yet because we’re still doing the work. We want to be confident that the numbers we come out with are good numbers – not to say that Tullow’s aren’t. The range is probably right.
“This is a very big field. It’s a very high-quality asset, too; light, sweet crude, excellent quality reservoir, the water depths are manageable, and drilling depths are very manageable. So this is going to be a great asset and the reason that we’re able to bring it on so fast is because of the quality of the asset. We have a group of partners that are aligned with the (Ghanaian) government to bring this field into production as quick as possible.”
Daniel said a joint project team was already working on the development options and that sanction was expected before the end of 2008.
“The (Ghanaian) government is with us the whole way. They need the production, and the initial production is planned to be what we call phase one … about 120,000bpd.
“With the Mahogany-2 results and additional appraisal work, we’ll probably need a second phase which would be a similar volume, and with the rest of the appraisal work this year, if we start pushing that high end you might see a phase three and phase four.
“We are confident we can do it because of the alignment and skill sets we have in deepwater. We’ve put some of our best people on the project.”
Daniel explained that, following logging of the Mahogany-2 well, the Songa Saturn had set production casing and was ready to perforate the well and run a 24-hour flow test.
“It will be focused on getting high-quality fluid samples, getting some rate information. We’re not going to get a whole lot of information on boundaries and things like that,” he said.
“But the static pressure data suggests that Manogany-1 and Mahogany-2 and Hydeua are all in communication in the hydrocarbon column … very definitively.”
Mahogany-2, located in 3,540ft of water on the West Cape Three Points block, encountered high-quality stacked reservoir sandstones with about 165ft of net oil-bearing pay.
It is about seven miles to the north-east and up-dip from Hydeua-1 on the Deepwater Tano licence, indicating a gross oil column of nearly 1,955ft.
Songa Saturn has drilled two wells this year – Odum and Mahogany-2. Once the drill-stem test is completed, the ship will head off to work elsewhere.
Its place will be taken by the semi-submersible, Blackford Dolphin, which is scheduled to drill five exploration and appraisal wells.
According to Anadarko’s Daniel, the first appraisal well with be the Hydeua-2 probe, which will be north and west of Hydeua-1.
“Then we’ll do Mahogany-3, which will be up-dip of Mahogany-2. Both of those are to extend the limit of the field and then we’ll decide where else to drill and whether to drill an exploratory well or one development well.
“Then that rig will leave and the Eirik Raude will show up October-November, stay for three years and will mainly drill development wells.”
Kosmos operates the West Cape Three Points block with 30.875% interest. Partners are Anadarko with 30.875%; Tullow with 22.896%; the E.O. Group with 3.5%, and Sabre Oil & Gas with 1.854%. Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), which has a 10% participating interest in the project, is being carried through the exploration and development phases.
Tullow operates the deepwater Tano block with a 49.95% interest. Partners are Kosmos, Anadarko, Sabre, and GNPC.
For Dana Petroleum, Tullow’s Jubilee success must be tinged with regret as the Aberdeen company tried long and hard to attract partners to share risk when it held Tano.
Alas, nobody was prepared to come in with Tom Cross and his team, not even Woodside, which did carry out a review but then backed away.