The oil find in neighbouring Ivory Coast will have no impact on Ghana’s fields, Tullow Oil, operator of the Jubilee Field, has said.

France's Total announced about three weeks ago it has struck oil on a block off Ivory Coast adjacent to Ghana's giant Jubilee oil and gas field, leading to questions about whether a possible territorial dispute could arise between the two countries. Total said it discovered oil in the western part of the CI-100 block, which it acquired in 2010.

“Ivory Coast’s recent discovery of oil will have no effect on our business operations in any way. This is because of different geological basing; so it doesn’t have any impact on us but it is good for Côte D’Ivoire,” Dai Jones, President and General Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, said at an investor forum in Accra.

Oil exploration in Africa's Gulf of Guinea has risen sharply since Ghana discovered Jubilee in 2007 and brought it into production in record time in late 2010. The field holds around two billion barrels of oil reserves and another 1.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Jubilee, which averaged production of 72,000 barrels of oil per day, has seen output rise to above 110,000 barrels per day in 2013.

Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow Oil plc, said the company has submitted a Plan of Development to Government to allow for the start of its second deepwater development, the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) fields. About US$4 billion is expected to be invested in the TEN project by Tullow and its partners.

Mr Heavey said though Ghana and Uganda have been the focus of the company’s operations since 2007, a new area of focus for the Group will be Kenya and Ethiopia following a successful exploration campaign in the two countries in 2012.

Local content

Mr. Heavey said local content forms an integral part of Tullow Oil’s operations, and the company is helping to raise standards among local businesses to ensure that they can compete genuinely for contracts.

“This is capacity building, and it is good for Tullow because it drives down cost in the supply chain. And it also good for the businesses involved, which learn to produce better-quality goods and services,” he added.

Tullow Oil contributed US$5 million toward establishment and running of the Enterprise Development Centre at Takoradi to act as a focal point for coordinating business contacts between oil and gas companies and SMEs.

The company is operational in countries including Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo Brazzaville and Mauritania, with its main development and operating focus on the Jubilee and TEN projects offshore Ghana.

In 2012 Tullow’s revenues increased by two percent to US$2.3 billion, and working interest production jumped 1 percent to 79,200 barrels per day. Its net profit however decreased by three percent to US$666 million.

By Bernard Yaw ASHIADEY