The Tweneboa-Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) development project is 75 per cent complete and on course to deliver first oil by the middle of next year, Tullow Oil, the operator has said.
Giving its operational update on the project, Tullow said the FPSO “is now mechanically complete” and on track to sail away from Singapore in early January to arrive in Ghana in the first quarter of 2016.
According to the company, the subsea fabrication work has completed and the subsea installation of this equipment “is now approximately 60 per cent complete”.
“The completion of the start-up wells is progressing with the fourth of ten well completions currently being installed,” Tullow said.
The TEN project is a series of oil fields in Ghana, and it has the potential to deliver up to 80,000 barrels a day, which would make it one of the largest assets in Tullow’s portfolio.
In a trading update published yesterday, Tullow announced a reduction of its 2016 capital expenditure budget by more than a third, below this year’s investments ($1.9 billion) to $1.2 billion, slashing costs as weak oil prices continue to eat into its profit.
The London-based oil company also trimmed its full-year production forecast from its West African fields to 66,000-67,000 barrels of oil per day, down from 66,000-70,000 bpd previously.
Tullow said it expects full-year pretax operating cashflow of around $1 billion and net debt of $4.2 billion.
The oil producer is counting on the mid-2016 start-up of its TEN oilfields project to boost a balance sheet that has been hit hard by the slump in crude prices since the middle of last year.
Commenting, Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive Officer, Tullow Oil Plc, said: “Whilst 2015 has been a difficult year across the industry, we have taken appropriate steps within our business to meet the challenges presented by lower oil prices. We have focused our resources on our West African oil assets which, by 2017 with TEN onstream, will be producing around 100,000 bopd net to Tullow.
“We are also focused on managing our costs and ensuring that we have sufficient funding to meet all our commitments. We expect to begin deleveraging our balance sheet with production from TEN and this project remains on time and on budget for mid-2016. Our East African developments are progressing steadily with FID for both Kenya and Uganda now expected in 2017.
“As we approach the end of the year, we are focused on our priorities of generating steady cashflow from our operations, completing TEN on schedule and on budget, ensuring we retain appropriate liquidity and building on our exciting exploration prospect inventory for the future.”
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