Jubilee Field Development

The Jubilee oil and gas field located in the Gulf of Guinea offshore Ghana has been in production since December 2010.

Tullow is the operator and holds a 35.48% stake in the Jubilee field area, while the other partners are Kosmos (24.08%), Anadarko (24.08%), Ghana National Petroleum Company (13.64%), and the Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroSA, 2.73%).

The Jubilee field development involves the subsea development and tie-back to a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The gross production from the offshore field stood at approximately 83,600 barrels of oil a day (bpd) in 2020.

Tullow awarded a subsea contract for the Jubilee South East development, an extension to the Jubilee field, in July 2021.

Location and discovery details

The Jubilee unit area is spread across West Cape Three Points and Deepwater Tano blocks in the Tano Basin, in the Gulf of Guinea, approximately 60km off the coast of Ghana. The water depths in the field area range between 1,000m and 1,800m.

Kosmos discovered the Jubilee field through the Mahogany-1 exploration well in the West Cape Three Points block in June 2007. Tullow drilled the Hyedua-1 appraisal well in Deepwater Tano block in August 2007 which confirmed a continuous hydrocarbon accumulation between West Cape Three Points and Deepwater Tano blocks.

The Jubilee field unit area was expanded to include the Mahogany and Teak discoveries in 2017.

Jubilee field development

The Jubilee offshore field, which is being developed in a phased manner, consists of multiple oil production wells, gas injection wells, water injection wells, and the associated subsea infrastructure. The wells are tied back to the Kwame Nkrumah FPSO. Gas injection and water injection are being performed to support reservoir pressure and for enhanced oil recovery.

The well stream is separated and processed by the FPSO to produce crude oil and natural gas. The crude oil is stored in the FPSO and later offloaded to the oil tankers. The natural gas is utilised for gas injection into the reservoir, power generation in the FPSO, as well as for export to the shore via a pipeline, while the remaining gas is flared.

A gas pipeline was laid by the Government of Ghana in 2014 to export natural gas from the FPSO to the onshore gas plant in Atuabo. The Jubilee field supplied approximately 72 million cubic feet of gas a day in 2020.

The Kwame Nkrumah FPSO can process approximately 120,000 barrels of oil and 160 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas a day. It has a crude oil storage capacity of approximately 1.6 million barrels and a water injection capacity of approximately 230,000 barrels a day.

Recent developments in the field

The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah originally consisted of an external single-point mooring system. However, the main turret bearing of the FPSO was seized in February 2016 which led to the conversion of the FPSO from the turret-mooring system to a spread-mooring system.

The lifting and locking of the main turret bearing and the FPSO rotation to its final heading were completed in the second half of 2018. The permanent spread-mooring system was installed in 2019, while the installation and commissioning of the catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) Buoy were completed in February 2021.

A multi-well drilling campaign at the Jubilee field was started in April 2021. As many as four wells, including two Jubilee production wells, one Jubilee water injection well, and one TEN gas injector well will be drilled in 2021.

As part of the drilling campaign, the J-56P production well and the J-55W water injector well were drilled at the Jubilee field as of June 2021. Both wells are expected to be completed and commence production in the third quarter of 2021 adding up to 20,000bpd to the field’s production.

Recently awarded contracts

TechnipFMC was awarded an integrated engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (iEPCI™) subsea contract for the Jubilee South East development by Tullow Ghana in July 2021. The value of the contract is worth between £54m ($75m) and £180.5m ($250m).

The scope of the contract includes the supply and installation of manifolds and associated controls, flexible risers and flowlines, umbilicals, and subsea structures. The production and water injection manifolds will be manufactured in Ghana.

TechnipFMC’s Subsea Studio™ digital solutions were utilised to optimise the development of Jubilee South East.

Maersk Drilling was awarded a multi-year contract worth approximately £268.4m ($370m) to drill wells in the Jubilee and TEN fields by Tullow Ghana in April 2021.

Maersk Drilling’s ultra-deepwater drillship Maersk Venturer commenced the drilling campaign at the Jubilee field in April 2021. The drilling programme is expected to last for approximately four years.

A consortium of Subsea 7 Volta Contractors and NOV Oil & Gas Services Ghana was awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract for the Buoy Turret Loading (BTL) system at the Jubilee field in October 2018.

APL, part of NOV’s Completion & Production Solutions segment, supplied the BTL system, while the scope for Subsea 7 included the installation of the BTL system as well as EPCI activities related to two offloading lines for the BTL, additional hang-off platform, and the skid for the FPSO.