GNPC to lift Jubilee crude cargo in March

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation is set to lift its Jubilee crude cargo by the second week of March.

The proposed date is March 12 or 13. Officials disclosed this to Joy Business in an emailed response to questions on a variety of issues.

Investigations by Joy Business’ George Wiafe indicate GNPC will be the fourth partner to lift after Tullow and two other partners.

According to the schedule agreed amongst the partners, the lifting will be done according to the partners’ interest in the field.

It says it is working closely with the partners to obtain the best price for the crude and expects to sell it at a price slightly higher than Brent crude which is currently trading at 97 dollars.

The corporation noted that it is evaluating proposals from world class oil traders and consumers as well as leading Ghanaian bulk distributors of refined petroleum products in order to select a suitable partner.

It says it will be doing its second lifting possibly on the 30th or 31st of May this year. It however adds that the lifting dates could change depending on production, stocks and terminal operations.
http://news.myjoyonline.com/business/201101/60196.asp

Tullow Oil Seeks 1 Billion Barrels in South America, West Africa

Tullow Oil Plc, a U.K. oil and gas explorer, is targeting about 1 billion barrels of resources in South America and West Africa.

Tullow plans to explore for oil in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Mauritania in Africa, and French Guiana and Guyana in South America, Chief Financial Officer Ian Springett said. The Zaedyus prospect in French Guiana and Cobalt in Liberia are the “two big ones,” he said. The company also plans to continue exploration in Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa, according to a statement today.

“We now have an extensive exploration campaign where we are looking to open new basins where we see exciting prospects,” Springett said in a phone interview. “A number of these wells are targeting very substantial resources.”

Tullow plans to invest at least $500 million to drill about 40 exploration and appraisal wells this year, he said. The company will increase production 58 percent to as much as 92,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day this year after starting output at the Jubilee field in Ghana in November.

The new forecast “is a little bit lower” than the previous guidance of 95,000 barrels a day, partly because the ramp-up of output from Jubilee is likely to take up to six months, Springett said. The field is currently pumping 50,000 barrels of oil a day and will reach 120,000 barrels later this year, Tullow said.

Stock Performance

Tullow gained 5 pence to 1,351 pence in London. The stock is up more than 16 percent in the past 12 months.

“The leverage to the drill bit could see the shares exceed 20 pounds,” Richard Griffith, a London-based analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd., wrote in an e-mailed report. The wells in South America may open “up a new play in which Tullow has significant acreage.”

Tullow said a general election planned on Feb. 18 in Uganda may delay the start of a venture with China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Total SA to tap fields in the Lake Albert basin. The partners are progressing talks with Uganda on the development, which may pump more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day in 2015.

“The new partnership of Tullow, Cnooc and Total remains fully committed and looks forward to commencing the basin-wide development this year,” Chief Executive Officer Aidan Heavey said.

Tullow paid about $1.5 billion in July to Heritage Oil Plc for interests in Block 1 and 3A in the Lake Albert basin. Uganda has delayed final approval of the deal amid a tax dispute, an issue that needs to be resolved before Cnooc and Total can be brought in as partners.

‘Minor Delay’

There is “some minor delay” in the Kasamene and Nzizi development projects, which are now scheduled to pump first oil and gas in 2012, Springett said. “We are close to resolution” with the Ugandan government.

Tullow plans to increase capital spending to about $1.5 billion in 2011 from $1.2 billion last year.

Exploration write-offs for 2010 are expected to be $135 million, the explorer said. “This write-off is principally associated with unsuccessful 2010 exploration activities in Gabon, Tanzania, Ghana, new ventures activity and license relinquishments,” the company said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-27/tullow-oil-to-raise-output-58-percent-on-ghana-field-startup.html

PM: Trinidad Awaits Ghana on Oil Deal

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs. Kamla Persad Bissessar, disclosed on Wednesday that her country has entered into an agreement, which, if approved by the Ghana government, will see, the National Gas Company of Trinidad & Tobago being Ghana’s major partner in the production of natural gas from the Jubilee Fields for generating electricity.

The Caribbean nation depends 100 percent on natural gas for its entire energy needs of some 1,500 megawatts.

She made this known at the media launch of the UN International Year for People of African Descent, at the Hilton Hotel, Port of Spain, Trindad.

The event was addressed by Awulae Attibrukusu III, the Vice President of the National House of Chiefs and a member of the board of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, who stressed on the growing cooperation between the two countries.

The Paramount Chief of Nzema West is part of a 21-member delegation from Ghana, led by Deputy Minister of Energy and MP for Ellembele, Kofi Armah Buah.

The delegation includes the other two paramount chiefs of Nzema, Catherine Afeku, MP for Evalue Gwira, and the Municipal Chief Executive of Nzema East, and the District Chief Executives of Jomoro District Assembly and Ellembele District Assembly.

The team is on a six-day trip to Trinidad & Tobago as part of partnership arrangement between the local people of Nzema and the Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings to undertake a multi-billion dollar gas-fed industrial estate and energy city project on a 2,000 acre land in Nzema, Western Region.

Mrs Bissessar said, “My government has approved in principle a very strong cooperation between our two countries on the exploitation of Ghana’s natural gas. We have now the expertise and knowledge and Ghana has acknowledged that. We hope that Ghana will approve of our proposal.”

She described that as very much in tune with her vision of greater south-south cooperation among members of the Commonwealth, which includes several African and Caribbean nations.

Trinidad & Tobago, which discovered oil 100 years ago, is the world’s leading producer of ammonia, urea and methanol from natural gas.

Much of Ghana’s Petroleum Revenue Management Bill and the Local Content Policy was modeled on Trinidad.

Later on, the Prime Minister answered questions from the media on Ghana’s oil and gas business.

She said, it would be the first time that her country has had the opportunity to go out of the island to share its experience and expertise for the benefit of another producer country. She expressed hope that the partnership will be of immense mutual benefit for the two nations.

Trinidad and Tobago is famous for its strong local content in oil and gas.

On Tuesday, the Ghanaian delegation visited the $3 billion Point LisasIndustrial Estate, which houses the world’s biggest ammonia plant and hosts 103 industries connected to gas feedstock. All 103 companies, employing up to 18,000 people are managed by locals.

Nigel Salina, the CEO of CAF Holdings said the group is seeking to replicate the Point Lisas industrial estate in Ghana but on a larger scale, since Ghana has more gas than his country.

The delegation also met Andrew Macintosh, the President of the National Gas Company and Eugene Tieh, CEO of Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited and other companies that are interested in the Ghana gas project.

Deputy Energy Minister Kofi Buah said the Ghana Government was excited about the partnership with Trinidad and Tobago and that the nation was open to business in President Mills’ determination to ensure that the petroleum find benefits the Ghanaian people.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=202037

GNPC: Ghana’s oil cannot be sold at huge discount

The head of Evaluation and Monitoring at Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) says the price of Ghana’s new oil should not be markedly different from that on the international market.

Kwame Ntow Amoah told Joy FM that although he could not state the price at which Ghana’s crude oil would be sold, the expectation of GNPC was that the first consignment of Ghana’s oil price will be as close as possible to the crude oil price on the world market.

Speaking on the Super Morning Show, Mr. Amoah explained that when a relatively new oil gets on to the market, it takes some time for it to get its technical value, adding that that notwithstanding, the GNPC does not expect the price of the first consignment to be as low as the figures published in the media.

Reports have been rife about Ghana’s first oil consignment being sold at $60 per barrel much lower than the close to $90 being sold at the world market.

He said that the GNPC will not accept the argument proposed by Tullow Oil that the low pricing scheme was intended to attract buyers to Ghana’s relatively new oil, especially because Ghana had embarked on pre-marketing of its crude oil and so does not expect such a huge discount.

He said that there was a process of reconciliation by which the partners used to arrive at an agreed market price; one which has been indicated in the Ghana Petroleum Agreement.

According to Mr. Ntow Amoah, there are other transactions which were not commercial in nature called “arm’s length transactions”, that allows an entity to sell its crude to an affiliate or conduct a batter trade with an affiliate, and if Ghana used that alternative it should be able to get pricing as close as possible to the technical value.

Mr. Kwame Ntow Amoah said that based on the work which the GNPC did in the pre-marketing, it was expected that Jubilee Oil would attain a premium over Brent although they recognized that it would take time to achieve that.

He said that GNPC have worked with competent entities that have the financial muscle and the networks in the market, expected to reach world-class refineries to process the Jubilee Field crude which will increase its value.
http://news.myjoyonline.com/business/201101/60117.asp