Phase 1 development

In parallel with the appraisal programme, the Jubilee partners embarked upon the Jubilee Phase 1 development.

Tullow was designated as the Unit Operator, with Kosmos Energy as the Technical Operator. A joint-venture Integrated Project Team (IPT) was created with the rest of the partners. The IPT, with the support of the Ghanaian Government, agreed on a Plan of Development for Phase 1 which focused on the core area of the field, using an FPSO based subsea development scheme. The Minister of Energy in Ghana formally approved the Jubilee field Phase 1 Development Plan and Unitisation Agreement on behalf of the Government of Ghana in July 2009.

Before being transported to Ghana, the fabrication of the subsea equipment took place in France, Finland, Singapore, Norway, Ghana, the UK and the USA and subsea equipment installation work commenced in January 2010. A fleet of 14 vessels were directly involved in shipping and then installing the flowlines, umbilicals, controls, manifolds and subsea wellhead trees.

The FPSO entered the Jurong Shipyard in November 2008 and after extensive works to convert the vessel, the FPSO ‘Kwame Nkrumah’ arrived in Ghanaian waters in June 2010. Seventeen wells for oil production, water injection and gas injection were tied back to the FPSO.

By moving from discovery to production in some 40 months, initial production in November 2010 represents the fastest ever comprehensive full scale deepwater development.

Remedial activity

The start of 2011 saw the first lifting of Jubilee crude oil from the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and by early 2013 over 55 million barrels of oil had been produced and safely exported. Following the strong operating performance of the Kwame Nkrumah FPSO, Tullow, on behalf of the Jubilee Partners, acquired the FPSO from Modec on 29 December 2011.  This acquisition will enable the Jubilee Partners to maximise the FPSO’s commercial value and operational efficiency whilst Modec will continue to provide operations and maintenance services.

The Jubilee Phase 1 development was completed in October 2011 when the last of the initial 17 wells were drilled, completed and brought on stream. Also at this time, the water injection design capacity for the FPSO was reached, with rates over 235,000 bwpd being injected into the reservoirs and pressure support being seen across the field. By the end of 2011, gas re-injection reached 80 mmscfd and gas flaring was reduced to minimal levels. 

In 2011, gross production from the Jubilee field averaged 66,000 bopd, reaching 88,000 bopd before declining to approximately 70,000 bopd at the end of the year. However, production from the field was below expectations due to reduced productivity in a number of wells. A programme of work to enhance production from the Jubilee wells commenced at the start of 2012. This programme was successful and identified acid stimulation as the optimum solution to returning the wells to their original productivity.