Tullow Oil says production vessel arrives in Ghana for field startup

March 05, 2016 | Company Operations, Ghana, Rigs & Vessels

London, UK | – Tullow Oil Plc, British independent oil explorer focused on Africa, said an oil production and storage vessel has reached Ghana for the scheduled start of output at its newest field in July or August.

A view of Tullow Oil's Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) Prof. John Evans Atta Mills which was completed at Sembcorp Marine's Jurong Shipyard in Singapore January 20, 2016. Reuters/Edgar Su

A view of Tullow Oil’s Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) Prof. John Evans Atta Mills which was completed at Sembcorp Marine’s Jurong Shipyard in Singapore January 20, 2016. Reuters/Edgar Su

The floating production, storage and offloading vessel arrived on Wednesday, more than a month after leaving Singapore where it was constructed, according to an e-mailed statement. The vessel will now be connected to pipelines and other infrastructure at the offshore field. The shares gained.

The startup of the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme, or TEN, project will allow Tullow to cut its net debt of $4 billion, Chief Executive Officer Aidan Heavey said in January. The company, which has made some of Africa’s largest oil discoveries in the last 10 years, has cut capital spending as it recalibrates its operations for a period of low prices.

Output from TEN this year will average about 23,000 barrels a day, with Tullow holding a 47.18 percent stake in the project. The explorer and its partners – Kosmos Energy Ltd., Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and South Africa’s PetroSA – are on schedule after drilling six wells into the deposit, according to a statement on Thursday.

Tullow’s shares rose as much as 6.7 percent and were up 6.1 percent at 189.2 pence as of 11:29 a.m. in London. The stock has climbed 14 percent this year, making it the best performer on the seven-member FTSE 350 Oil & Gas Producers Index.