[ 2017-09-23 ]

Tullow to resume TEN operations following ITLOS ruling
Oil giant Tullow is to resume operations at the
TEN oil fields by December, 2017, after putting it
on hold for two years due to the maritime border
dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Ghana dragged Ivory Coast to the Special Chamber
of the International Tribunal of the Law of the
Sea(ITLOS) in September, 2014 after negotiations
with Ivory Coast over the disputed boundary broke
down.

ITLOS in its first ruling in 2015 placed a
moratorium on new projects, the directive meant
Tullow had to put on hold operations including
drilling in the disputed area.

ITLOS however today September, 23, 2017 ruled in
favor of Ghana.

The special chamber ruled that there had not been
any violation on the part of Ghana on Ivory
Coast’s maritime boundary.


ITLOS also following the ruling determined a new
boundary for the two countries.
Tullow in a statement copied to Citi Business News
said the TEN fields were not affected by the new
maritime boundary determined by the tribunal.

Tullow added that it “will now work with the
Government of Ghana to put in place the necessary
permits to allow the restart of development
drilling in the TEN fields.

Tullow expects to resume drilling around the end
of year.

Tullow’s TEN field currently produces about
40,000 barrel of oil per day.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Tullow Ghana,
Charles Darku, commenting on the impact of the
ruling said the company will expedite work on all
additional wells for the TEN oilfields hopefully
by the end of 2017.


“We are now going to proceed with a new set of
timelines that we have developed to drill the
balance of the wells. When the moratorium was
placed, we did get TEN first oil and we proceeded
with production. Now with the ruling out of the
way, we want to resume as quickly as possible,
hopefully by the end of the year,” he
explained.

Mr. Darku has ruled out any distortion to the 2017
end of year production target for the TEN fields.

“Production forecast for this year will remain
at 50,000 barrels of oil per day.

In respect of next year’s production, we are
actually now working on our numbers and we will
release the figure at the appropriate time.”
Meanwhile, the CEO of Tullow Paul McDade, has
assured that the company will continue its
production in Ghana as well as work of the
government of Ivory Coast.

“Tullow looks forward to continuing to work
constructively with the Governments of both Ghana
and Côte d’Ivoire following the conclusion of
this process. While the TEN fields have performed
well during the period of the drilling moratorium,
we can now restart work on the additional drilling
planned as part of the TEN fields’ plan of
development and take the fields towards their full
potential,” he said.

Source - citibsinessnews.com

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