Tullow Oil Plans Up to 10 New Wells in Ghana Under 2027–2028 Drilling Programme
Tullow Oil has signed a rig contract to drill up to 10 wells in Ghana under its 2027–2028 drilling programme, as the company seeks to sustain production and identify further development opportunities at its offshore oilfields.
The rig is expected to arrive in Ghana around mid-2027. Tullow plans to use four-dimensional (4D) seismic data, alongside additional information from an Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) survey, to identify drilling targets.
The planned campaign follows the completion of the company’s 2025–2026 drilling programme, which brought six new production wells online at the Jubilee field. The campaign’s final well, a water injector, also began operating in September 2026.
Jubilee Production Exceeds Expectations
Tullow reported average gross oil production of 70,800 barrels per day (bpd) from the Jubilee field in the first half of 2026, equivalent to net production of 27,600 bpd. The results exceeded the company’s expectations.
According to its first-half 2026 report, interpretation of 4D seismic data provided important insights into reservoir performance, helping the company select drilling targets and support production results.
Production optimisation activities also improved output from existing wells, with several key wells performing better than expected decline rates. Dual-riser operations contributed to these improvements.
Water injection performance remained in line with expectations for the year despite unexpected downtime in the second quarter.
Voidage replacement, which measures the extent to which injected fluids replace the volume removed through production, remained above 100% during the first half of 2026 and showed an increasing annual trend.
TEN Field Also Outperforms Expectations
Production from Tullow’s Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) fields also exceeded expectations during the first half of 2026.
Gross oil production averaged 14,800 bpd, while net production attributable to Tullow averaged 8,100 bpd.
The company is progressing several projects aimed at converting resources at the Jubilee and TEN fields into reserves.
These include subsea pumps, additional development drilling, gas resource monetisation and well intervention activities.
Seismic Data to Support Future Exploration
Beyond the planned drilling programme, Tullow has identified longer-term opportunities around its existing offshore assets, including infrastructure-led exploration prospects in deeper formations beneath the Jubilee and TEN fields.
The company intends to use insights from existing 4D seismic data and the forthcoming OBN survey to improve its understanding of the subsurface and evaluate potential drilling opportunities.
The planned campaign forms part of Tullow’s broader efforts to sustain production from its Ghanaian offshore assets while pursuing additional development opportunities.
