Saltpond Oil Field is an
oil field off the coast of
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...
. The field was discovered in 1970 by Signal-
Amoco
Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a ...
Consortium.
The field is currently managed by the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company (SOPCL), Ghana's oldest producer of crude oil.
Location
The oil field is located west of Ghana's capital,
Accra, in the
Central region of Ghana. It is located about off the coast of
Saltpond
Saltpond is a town and the capital of the Mfantsiman Municipal District in the Central Region, Ghana, Central Region of South Ghana. Saltpond has a population of 24,689 people.
Economy
History
Saltpond was in a state of economic decline since t ...
in the northern-central area of the
Takoradi Arch, in water depth of .
[ It extends over an area of .]
History
Original development
Saltpond Oil Field was discovered in 1970 after the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is the state agency responsible for the exploration, licensing, and distribution of petroleum-related activities in Ghana.
History
The corporation was established in 1983 to replace the Petroleum ...
(GNPC) licensed Signal-Amoco Consortium to operate in Ghana's territorial waters
The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...
. The initial appraisal of the field showed that the well would produce of oil.
In 1976 Amoco relinquished the concession, citing the field as non-commercial. The concession was reassigned to Offshore Hydrocarbons Ltd., which later entered into a development farmout with Agri-Petco of the United States.[ In 1977–1978 Agri-Petco drilled six appraisal wells from a centrally located ]jackup rig
A jackup rig or a self-elevating unit is a type of mobile platform that consists of a buoyant hull fitted with a number of movable legs, capable of raising its hull over the surface of the sea. The buoyant hull enables transportation of the unit ...
called ''Mr. Louie
''Mr. Louie'' is a former self-elevating drilling barge (jackup rig) converted into an oil platform. It was the first self-elevating drilling barge classed by the American Bureau of Shipping. As an oil platform, it operates at the Saltpond Oil Fie ...
''. After the drilling, the jack-up was converted into a production unit and the field was put onstream in October 1978.[
In 1984, the field was reassigned to Primary Fuels Inc., which took over the operation for a year. In July 1985 GNPC took over the operation of the field.][
From 1978 to 1985 the maximum oil production was of oil. When operation stopped in 1985, the volume of production was . The estimated percentages of oil and gas that had been obtained from the field at the time of shutdown were 10.4% and 25%, respectively, with three of the six wells unable to produce oil.][
]
Operation resumption
On 18 January 2000, GNPC entered into an agreement with Lushann International of Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
, Texas, for the rehabilitation of the Saltpond Oil Field and the implementation of the rig-less workover proposal.[ In 2002, Oildata's programme of rig-less workover discovered obstructions in the wells which prevented workers from reaching the bottom of most of the wells. When the workover was completed, only two wells were able to produce between of oil.][ Lushann International was also granted the right to develop up to 400 MW of power generation facilities to commercialize ]natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...
from the Saltpond Field.[
In 2002, the ]Government of Ghana
The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...
began re-negotiating the agreement between GNPC and Lushann-Eternit Energy Ltd. The negotiations ended in 2004 with a new agreement in which GNPC's stake was increased from 40% to 45%, with Lushann-Eternit Energy Ltd. having 55%.[ The new agreement led to the creation of the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company, which markets the oil from the fields on the world market.][
The rig-less workover could not sustain high production, resulting in a drop of about . In 2005, operations were suspended so the rig-less workover could be replaced. Operations resumed in April 2006 with an increase in production to from two wells.][
In 2008, the ]diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...
-fired generating plant was replaced by a natural gas-fired plant for utilization of natural gas from the field. This reduced production cost on the fields. A new storage vessel, MT ''Bonsu'', was purchased for storage of oil from the field.[ It replaced the previously leased storage vessel MT ''African Wave'', which had become dangerous to operate.]
Reserves and production
The estimated initially resource in place was of oil, of gas condensate, and of natural gas. After the field's operations were shut down in 1985, GNPC commissioned various geological and engineering studies to improve its knowledge of the nature of the field and to ascertain if long-term redevelopment was feasible. In 1986, Braspetro
Braspetro was a Brazilian state company. It was founded in 1972 as a subsidiary of Petrobras to find and produce oil outside Brazil. (As Petrobras had a monopoly over Brazilian oil production at the time, it was forbidden by law to operate interna ...
conducted a study in which an estimated and of natural gas was reported still in the field. Another study by Oil-data Wireline Services of Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
in 1999 recommended a rig-less workover
The term workover is used to refer to any kind of oil well intervention involving invasive techniques, such as wireline, coiled tubing or snubbing. More specifically, a workover refers to the expensive process of pulling and replacing complet ...
for the redevelopment of the field.[
The cumulative production from beginning of operations to the shut-in in 1985 was of oil and of natural gas. The field currently produces about of oil.][
]
Incidents
In April 2003, the storage vessel MT ''Asterias'', operating at the Saltpond Oil Field, was alleged to have gone missing with of oil. It was seized by its owner, the Nigerian company Ocean & Oil Limited, due to non-payment of freight charges by Lushann International. According to authorities of Ghana, Lushann International was not paid any royalties, carried interests, training allowances and annual surface rentals which were mandatory under the petroleum laws of Ghana.
References
{{Petroleum industry in Ghana
Oil fields in Ghana