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Generations and distributors of electricity face a difficult task of supplying sufficient power in the next two weeks as lean gas used by thermal power plants in the Aboadze enclave to fire thermal plants has dropped from 90 Million Standard Cubic Feet of Gas per day (mmscfd) to 50mmscfd.

To avoid shortage in supply, generators using dual fired plants would have to resort to the use of crude oil which would make cost of generation high.

A statement issued by Alfred Ogbamey, Corporate Communications Manager of Ghana Gasm, said Tullow Ghana Limited, operators of the Floating Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) Kwame Nkrumah, yesterday informed Ghana National Gas Company of critical turret remediation works required upstream.

Consequently, Tullow has revised downward, available natural gas supply from the present 90 Million Standard Cubic Feet of Gas per day to 50 Million Standard Cubic Feet of Gas per day, the statement said.

It said the revised nomination will last between November 1 and 21, 2016.

Ghana Gas has informed the Volta River Authority (VRA) the main downstream off-taker and other partners of reduction in the availability of lean gas and associated gas products within the period as a result of challenges on the Jubilee Field.

Mooring works

The Finder gathered that Tullow was carrying out some mooring works as part of process to fix the turret.

The Communications Unit of Tullow was contacted for explanation on what exactly is going on.

However, as at press time yesterday the Communications Unit of Tullow did not provide the feedback promised.

FPSO to be fully fixed mid 2018

Kosmos Energy Limited’s second quarter financial and operating results stated that installation of a deepwater Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) buoy FPSO Kwame Nkrumah as the final phase of repair work in the first half of 2018 is expected to restore full offloading functionality.

This will remove the need for the DP shuttle and storage tankers, which has increased associated operating costs.

Market inquiries are currently ongoing to estimate the cost and schedule for the fabrication and installation of this buoy.

Kosmos and its partners have established that the preferred long-term solution is to convert the FPSO to a permanently spread moored facility, with off-take through a new deepwater CALM buoy.

The first phase of this work would involve the installation of a stern anchoring system to replace the three heading control tugs currently in the field, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2016.

The partners then plan a second phase of work to remove the load of the turret and risers from the bearing to allow the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to be rotated to its optimal spread moor heading in the first half of 2017.

These first two phases of work are expected to cost up to $150 million gross, and it is estimated that the Jubilee FPSO would need to be shut down for 8-12 weeks during the first half of 2017.

Upon completion of the spread mooring work programme, production is expected to return to the levels achieved before the turret bearing issue occurred.

During the second quarter, gross sales volumes from the Jubilee field averaged approximately 45,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Production during the quarter was impacted by downtime associated with the turret bearing issue identified on the Jubilee FPSO in February 2016.

This issue required the implementation of new operating procedures, including the use of tug boats for heading control and a dynamically positioned (DP) shuttle tanker and a storage vessel for offloading.

These new operating procedures necessitated the FPSO being shut down for an extended period in April, with production resuming in early May.

Once the new operating procedures were in place, field production gradually increased and, in June, it averaged around 90,000 bpd gross.

These procedures are continuing to work effectively, and for the second half of 2016, production is anticipated to average approximately 85,000 bopd.

FPSO Kwame Nkrumah perennial challenges.

Various challenges have hindered the delivery of a potential 120 million standard cubic feet of gas a day from the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to the processing plant at Atuabo.

Since gas production commenced, Tullow Ghana has undertaken several unplanned shutdowns of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah as a result of faulty compressor.

Regular supply of gas from the Jubilee fields has been hindered by the continuous failing of the field operator, compressor at the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.

The compressor used by the oil company works in a similar fashion as pumps. It increases the pressure on a fluid and can transport the fluid through a pipe.