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Tullow, lead operator of Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) is hopeful of commencing drilling of 13 new wells before the end of this year following Ghana’s victory declared by The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

This would increase production towards the full capacity of the floating production, storage and offloading vessel of 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) from around 50,000 bpd currently.

Consequently, the company will use the time from now to December to secure all the necessary permits.

“We do have what it takes to go on the field. We are on the field carrying out with our operations but in any business, any different aspect of the activities requires different permits and consents.

“The next step we going forward we will hope we have all the necessary consents and permits of government which is the drilling exercise in respect of additional wells which will involve the EPA.

“Now with the ruling out of the way we want to resume as quickly as possible hopefully be the end of the year” Charles Darku, Chief Executive of Tullow Ghana told journalists in Accra.

He explained that Tullow would be in touch with government in relation to the next major activities to be undertaken after the ruling.

In terms of the additional drills based on the timelines set he said, “we are now going to proceed with a new timeline to drill the wells”.

According to him, Tullow’s drills would be at the east boundary line set by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

He stated that the forecast set for this year remains 50,000 barrels per day for the TEN oil fields.

Darku said “in terms of our forecast for next year we are still working out on our numbers and this issue will go into our analysis and we will issue a statement at an appropriate time.

“There hasn’t been any loss in relation to our operations been halted. After one year of production we are still to go” he added.

He was hopeful that the ruling should send a right signal to the investor community to come on board.

He explained that Tullow has a good relationship with the Ivorian government as well as some agencies there since the company has have corporations over there.

“We don’t think that the relationship will be impaired by this outcome. We will work with both governments appropriately” he added.

24 wells for full field development
The full field development of TEN consists of around 24 wells, comprising a mixture of water injection, gas injection and production wells.

The break down are 11 oil producer wells, 10 water injection wells, 2 gas injector wells and one gas producer well.
11 wells drilled so far
However, 11 wells have been drilled so far comprising five water wells, five oil wells and one gas injection well.
13 wells to be drilled after ruling
The remaining 13 wells will be drilled after the ITLOS gives its final verdict on the boundary dispute between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday.

They are six oil producer wells, five water injection wells, one gas injection well and one gas producer well.
Areas affected by the ruling
The main projects in the disputed area impacted by the decision are Tweneboa-Enyerra-Ntomme (TEN) discoveries, WAWA and the Hess exploration, where further exploratory drilling is required in both the WAWA and Hess holdings in order to fully determine the extent of reserves.

TEN shareholders
The shareholders in the TEN project are Tullow – 47.185%, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) – 15%, Kosmos Energy – 17%, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation – 17%, and PetroSA - 3.815%.
TEN is expected to produce about 300 million barrels of oil, equivalent to 20 years lifespan of the project, and 80% of the oil would be gas.