Ghana’s Minister of Energy has granted formal approval for Tullow Oil’s long-term Greater Jubilee Plan of Further Development — a sweeping upstream programme authorising the drilling of up to 20 additional wells on the deepwater Jubilee Field once the current six-well development campaign concludes, putting one of West Africa’s most prolific oil fields firmly on a multi-decade production trajectory.
The approval comes at a moment of operational momentum at Jubilee. The third of the six new producers — well J76-P — was set to come onstream this week, with logging results having already revealed strong production rates. The remaining two producers, J77-P and J50-P, are expected to go online later in June and during July, followed by the final well, a water injector, in September. The current campaign is drawing to a close, and ministerial approval for the next phase of development was required before the operator could begin detailed planning for what comes after.
Tullow reported that general uptime performance has remained high in recent months at both the Jubilee and TEN FPSOs, averaging more than 99 percent — a figure that reflects the operational maturity of a field that has been in production since 2010. Maintaining near-perfect uptime on aging floating infrastructure while simultaneously drilling new wells is a demanding operational feat and one that underpins the commercial case for further investment.
The Greater Jubilee Plan of Further Development represents the next stage in an asset that has been central to Ghana’s oil economy since it first produced. Jubilee, discovered in 2007, transformed Ghana from a frontier exploration destination into an established oil producer virtually overnight. The field has generated substantial government revenues, supported local employment and contractor development, and served as the anchor asset for Ghana’s upstream sector for more than fifteen years.
Authorising up to 20 further wells signals that both the operator and the Ghanaian government see meaningful remaining resource potential in the Jubilee structure — and that the partnership between Tullow, its co-venturers, and the state remains intact and aligned on the long-term development agenda. For Ghana’s energy security and fiscal planning, the continuation of Jubilee production at scale is not optional — it is foundational.
Source: offshore-mag.com