Govt is careful on overestimating revenue from TEN- Terkper

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has stated that government is being careful in projecting revenue from the Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) field due to uncertainties in the prices of crude oil.

Prior to oil production in Ghana’s first oil field, Jubilee project, government pegged full capacity at over 90,000 barrels per day but technical hitches hindered the full production.

In addition, the record drop of oil prices on the world market from about 100 dollars a barrel to about 40 dollars a barrel forced government to periodically reduce revenue projections affecting government’s fiscal policies.

Speaking at press conference in Accra, Mr. Seth Terkper maintained that government has learnt lessons from the Jubilee field, hence is being conservative in expected revenue.

“We want to be conservative; we don’t want to be over excited about TEN field or Sankofa. We must learn lesson from our first experience with the Jubilee,” he said.

He explained that in 2010 when the Jubilee project commenced, expected production was overestimated which resulted in Ghana missing the revenue target.

“We estimated crude oil on Jubilee field to be 90,000 barrels a day and it didn’t happen on technical grounds,” he said, adding that the missed projection affected government’s fiscal stands.

Expressing optimism in the price of oil in the future, Mr. Terkper stated that the commodity may experience some improvement in the future to enable government get a fair price.

“We want to be conservative and then as the fortunes become better we can revise the indicators. We want to manage government’s fiscal deficit,” he said.

He cited for example that the miscalculation was part of the reasons why the Single Spine Pay Policy introduced at the time put pressure on the national purse.

According to him, government is being careful not put undue pressure on the state resources as it enhances public finance.

Expected output from TEN

The field is expected to produce over 23,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on average till close of the year.

According to lead managers of the project, Tullow Oil Ghana Limited, the figure is expected to ramp up as more wells are brought on board the production in the coming weeks.

At full capacity, the field is expected to produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day.

Under the TEN project agreement, Kosmos Energy has 17.0 percent interest, whiles PetroSA and Anadarko have 3.8 and 17.0 percent interests respectively.

The government of Ghana commands 15 percent, whiles the lead operator, Tullow Oil Ghana Limited has 47.1 percent.

By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana