It’s not all doom and gloom in the industry. One can look to the Dark Continent’s Ghana for the latest slivers of silver to line the gray clouds brought on by the topsy-turvy oil market. It is a gas project that has delivered so far more than $1 billion in contracts and orders to some of the industry’s biggest players.

Since 2012, Ghana has experienced power shortages due to inadequate gas supplies and low water levels in existing hydroelectric reservoirs, according to a Reuters report. The Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) project—sanctioned earlier this year by Eni, Vitol and the Ghana National Petroleum Corp.—will provide a domestic gas supply to Ghana’s thermal power plants for more than 15 years.

The OCTP block is located about 60 km (37 miles) from the coast of Ghana at a water depth of 600 m to 1,000 m (1,968 ft to 3,280 ft). Comprising five fields, the project will access about 42.5 Bcm (1.5 Tcf) of gas-in-place and around 500 MMbbl of oil-in-place, according to a Vitol-issued press release. The development of the gas fields will underpin the growth of the domestic thermal power sector and will enable the transformation of the economy, the company said.

It is the first major gas development in the country, with the gas fields containing enough gas to continuously supply the country until at least 2036. First oil is expected in 2017, and first gas is expected in 2018 with oil production reaching around 80,000 boe/d in 2019, according to the press release.

The fields will be produced using subsea production systems connected to an FPSO vessel via risers and flowlines. Gas will be transported via a dedicated pipeline to onshore receiving facilities for compression and transportation via the Western Corridor Gas Pipeline. Oil will be stored and offloaded for sale in international markets, according to the press release.

GE Oil & Gas announced in March the booking of an $850 million order with Eni and partners for turbomachinery and subsea elements. The three LM2500+G4 gas turbines for power generation and four electric motor-driven centrifugal compressors are planned for the FPSO vessel. Working together with Oceaneering International, the subsea kit includes the subsea production and control system and umbilicals engineering as well as project management, fabrication, transport and testing, the GE-issued press release said.

Maersk Drilling was awarded a contract by Eni Ghana Exploration and Production Ltd. for its newbuild drillship Maersk Voyager for work on the OCTP project, the company announced. The contract period is for 3.5 years with an option to extend by one year, with total estimated revenue of $545 million for the company. Work is expected to commence in July 2015.

Editor’s note: In recognition of the five years that have now passed since the Macondo tragedy, E&P has teamed up with our sister magazine Oil and Gas Investor to put together a special report in this issue examining the response since then not only of the oil industry but also the scientific community and the federal government.

Comments