GAS GOING TO WASTE AT SALTPOND FIELDS

Monday February 08, 2010
By Lawrence Markwei

Lawrence Markwei, Saltpond

GAS flared at the Saltpond oil field since activities were reactivated in 2002 average two million cubic feet per day.

An estimated total of four billion cubic feet of gas has so far been flared, Times investigation has established.

Saltpond Offshore Production Company Limited (SOPCL) engaged in the production of the crude has therefore decided to work with Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to utilize the gas being produced on its rig to produce electricity.

SOPCL, will generate the electricity from a thermal plant which will be powered by gas from the offshore activities of the company.

Mr Emmanuel Sam, General Manager of SOPCL disclosing this to the Times said all the feasibility studies have been concluded and 60 plots of land have been acquired for the project.

He, however, said with a new technology the gas will be trapped into a 20 kilometre pipeline which will be laid under the sea to transport the gas from the field inland.

Mr Sam said the decision to product electricity locally was influenced by the fact that unlike crude oil, gas is more difficult and therefore more expensive to transport to international markets, hence the need to look at how production can be used locally.

He said though gas is expected from Nigeria through the West African Gas Pipeline “it is still in the interest of government to help develop the local gas industry to provide security in case of disruption in supply.”

The West African Gas Pipeline which involves other West African nations and Ghana was embarked on to enable Ghana diversity her over reliance on crude to generate expensive electricity.

The multi-million dollar project is supposed to make available to Ghana and the other partners natural gas whose estimated reserve is over 120 trillion cubic feet from the Delta Region of Nigeria. However, faced with many challenges to start of supply has been held up since 2007 when the project was completed.

Mr Sam said with brighter prospects in the oil business, it is high time Ghana start to develop its domestic gas supply to meet the need of the country.

He said to this end SOPCL is working with some partners to conduct 3-Dseimic Studies drill more wells to push production from the current 600 barrels per day to about 2,500 barrels per day.

He said when SOPCL revived the field by refurbishing two wells, average production is about 500 barrels per day saying “the company has managed to stay afloat because the price of crude is hovering around 70 dollars per barrels.”

It is estimated that about 1,235,000 barrel of crude have been pumped to date. “Therefore we are conducting seismic survey to collect data to determine oil prospects in the area.

Many stakeholders in the oil industry are optimistic that more oil field would be found if exploration is intensified since Ghana is on the same geological tectonic crust of earth which joined the regions of West Africa and the Eastern Coast of South America together. It is the Saltpond Oil Company that put Ghana on the oil producing map.

It is the same tectonic plate that is yielding oil in significant commercial quantities for Venezuela and Brazil in Southern America, Nigeria, Equitorial Guinea, La Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroun, Gabon, Angola and currently jubilee field in Ghana.

Mr Sam therefore asked investors to get on board to prospect for oil offshore saying that “the revival of the oil prospecting by SOPCL gave confidence to investors to get on board and discover the jubilee field.”

The Saltpond field was discovered by a consortium led by Amoco in 1970 with estimated reserves of about 34 million barrels of oil.

Agri Peto stated producing 5,000 barrels per day with five wells in 1978 until it shut down on the mid-eighties and transferred its interest to Primary Fuels Incorporated (PFI).

PFI later pulled out as an result of uneconomic production rates until the field was revived by SOPCL which is a partnership between Ghana National Petroleum Company and Lushann International in 2002.

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