Image: gridpetroleumghana.com
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NIGERIA
The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the flagship subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is interfacing with third-party financiers to raise $3.15 billion to develop Nigeria’s crude reserves and increase oil and gas production from Oil Mining Lease 13 (OML 13).
NNPC stated that the ownership of OML 13 had been restored to the corporation via a presidential intervention and the funds will enable the NPDC to develop 416 million barrels of oil reserves and increase production by 94,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
It will also be used to develop 542 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day from the same OML 13. The NPDC stated that its target was to increase its oil and gas production to 500,000bpd and 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2020.
The NPDC further stated that, due to the return of the Forcados Oil Terminal, its production increased from a constrained 15,000 bpd to 240,000bpd. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, stated that the federal government was intensifying efforts to boost the country’s crude oil reserves from 37 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels by 2020.
OML 13 is an onshore oil block on the eastern Niger Delta with acreage of 1,923m2. It plays host to the Utapate South and Ibibio fields, as well as some producing marginal fields. NPDC is the fifth largest exploration and production oil producer in
Nigeria and the company is ready to efficiently manage its portfolio of assets to achieve its yearly production targets.
GHANA
On January 17, Tullow Oil announced plans to drill for oil and gas in Ghana’s offshore Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) oil fields in the Deepwater Tano Block.
Tullow is embarking on a work program that could see it increase its production in West Africa by 10% in 2019. In coming months, Tullow said it will drill and complete
seven new wells both at the offshore TEN and also the Jubilee fields to the east.
Completion of the seven wells in 2019 could trigger a surge in Ghana’s gross oil production to 180,000 bpd. Tullow has partnered with Kosmos Energy, Anadarko, Petro SA and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation on the TEN project, whose development was launched in 2013.
Development of the TEN oil fields is supported by a floating, production, storage and loading vessel that was converted at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore for Tullow’s Ghana offshore upstream and midstream operations. It has a capacity of 80,000 bpd.
GLOBAL
On January 17, oil prices fell as news of U.S. crude production rising to an all-time high added to worries of a new glut forming. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for February delivery was down 72c at $51.59 per barrel at 11:20 AM ET (16:20 GMT), while Brent crude futures for March delivery slid by 48c to trade at
$60.84.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its weekly report on January 16 showed a rise in U.S. crude by 200,000 barrels to reach a record high of 11.9 million bpd for the week ending January 11.
In a separate report, the EIA said U.S. production could possibly hit 13 million bpd by 2020.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its monthly market report cut its forecast for the average demand for its crude in 2019 to 30.83 million bpd, down 910,000 bpd from the 2018 average.
OPEC stated that its output fell 751,000 bpd in December 2018, suggesting it was on its way to fulfilling terms of a pact to cut production between OPEC and non-OPEC members, including Russia. Despite OPEC production cuts, U.S. output has surged close to 12 million bpd and some traders and investors are concerned that growth in global supply in 2019 will outpace demand.