Tullow Oil has told Citi Business News its production from the Jubilee Oilfields this year has not been affected by the challenges that have been associated with the turret bearing.
The oil company says its production target for 2017 will therefore not be affected as a result.
Tullow, in its 2016 financial report projected a drop of about 5,000 barrels in anticipated production from the Jubilee fields.
It cited the impact of the faulty turret bearing.
But speaking to Citi Business News at its investor forum, the Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, Charles Darku said output is being recorded as planned.
“We started works and then went ahead to design an anchorage system for the other end in the vessel and that favours rotation which allows us to produce at the same rate as we ought to,”
“On Tuesday, we produced 100,000 barrels and so the production itself will not be impacted by the turret bearing issue other than days of outages. We will end the year with the 68,000 barrels per day,” Mr. Daaku explained.
The turret which is a key component of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, developed some faults in 2016.
The development has since impacted on the Jubilee field operations of Tullow Oil.
For instance in May last year, the development led to a drop in oil production from a daily 100,000 barrels to 33,000 barrels.
Several efforts have since been put in place to bridge the production deficit.
In February 2017, an interim spread moor was completed.
Tullow however says it is targeting greater Jubilee Field Development plan approval in the second half of 2017.
Meanwhile Tullow has assured shareholders of commitment to grow the business and improve its prospects in the oil sector.
For the second consecutive time, Tullow couldn’t pay dividends to shareholders.
The issue dominated discussions at the company’s investor forum on Wednesday.
But CEO of Tullow, Paul McDade said any decision of offering shareholders any dividends going forward will largely depend on the decision to be arrived at by Directors.
“The Board will assess the performance of the company in 2017 and decide what to be paid if any is to be paid.”
–
By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
