Tullow Oil prepares campaign of up to 10 wells in Ghana
Tullow Oil has secured the drillship Noble Faye Kozack to carry out a new offshore drilling campaign in Ghana. The program includes up to 10 wells and is scheduled to begin in mid-2027.
In this way, the operator will continue its work in the Jubilee and TEN fields; the campaign will cover the period 2027-2028 and will allow drilling to new targets identified through subsurface studies.
Furthermore, the contract fulfills the plans that Tullow Oil had previously outlined for its so-called Campaign 2. The company was already working on selecting a unit capable of executing the next cycle of wells in Ghana's deep waters.
Tullow Oil prepares up to 10 wells for 2027-2028
The Noble Faye Kozack will allow a new stage to begin after the drilling campaign carried out between 2025 and 2026.
During that program, Tullow Oil incorporated six producing wells from Jubilee and one water injection well; the operator also obtained new information on reservoir behavior that will be used to prepare for subsequent interventions.
Wells came into production between June and August 2026 J76-P, J77-P and J50-P, their initial results were between the levels expected by the company and figures higher than its expectations.
Now, attention shifts to the campaign of up to 10 wells; its execution will extend deepwater drilling activity and allow continued development of available resources around Jubilee and TEN.
Noble Faye Kozack will take drilling to ultra-deep waters
For its part, Noble Corporation will contribute a unit designed to work in ultra-deep water conditions.
The Noble Faye Kozack was built in 2013 to the Samsung 12000 Double Hull design. The drillship can operate in water depths of up to 12,000 feet, equivalent to about 3,658 meters.
Furthermore, its maximum drilling capacity reaches 40,000 feet or about 12,192 meters; these characteristics allow the unit to be used in complex deep-water drilling programs.
Before heading to Ghana, the vessel must complete its current commitments in Brazil; a Noble fleet report published in July placed the Noble Faye Kozack under contract with Petrobras until January 2027.
The schedule allows the unit to complete that work before mobilizing for the start of the Tullow Oil campaign planned for the middle of the same year.
4D seismic and OBN guide the next wells
Meanwhile, the selection of targets does not depend solely on the results of previous wells; Tullow Oil has combined available information with new tools to study reservoirs.
These include 4D seismic and Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) data obtained at Jubilee and TEN.
4D seismic allows for comparison of the evolution of a reservoir as production progresses; in turn, the nodes installed on the seabed offer high-resolution information that helps to characterize the structures under the ocean floor.
With this data, teams can reduce some of the geological uncertainty before defining the location of new wells.
Tullow Oil had already used seismic data interpretation to support target selection during its previous campaign. Therefore, the new data will play an important role in preparing the 2027-2028 program.
Jubilee and TEN concentrate Tullow Oil's activity in Ghana
At the same time, the hiring comes as Tullow Oil has a broader horizon for developing its main assets in Ghana.
The country's Parliament ratified in February the extension until December 31, 2040, of the West Cape Three Points and Deep Water Tano oil agreements. These agreements cover the Jubilee and TEN fields.
During 2025, Jubilee recorded an average gross production of 60,900 barrels per day. TEN produced an additional 16,000 gross barrels per day.
The operator has drilled more than 70 development wells in deep water across both fields. It has also identified potential for up to 20 additional infill wells in Jubilee, along with oil and gas opportunities in TEN.
Therefore, the campaign with the Noble Faye Kozack is part of a development strategy that has several years to continue evaluating and exploiting these resources.
The infrastructure supports the new phase of offshore drilling.
Tullow Oil is taking action on the infrastructure necessary to support its operations.
The company agreed to acquire, on behalf of the project partners, the FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills used in TEN for USD 205 million gross. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2027.
The purchase seeks to eliminate the costs associated with leasing the unit and facilitate operational synergies between TEN and Jubilee.
In addition, Jubilee's subsea infrastructure undergoes multi-year inspection, maintenance, and repair work. These activities encompass installations such as wellheads and other subsea components.
The Jubilee and TEN FPSOs also recorded availability exceeding 99% during the first half of 2026. This operational capacity will be relevant when future wells need to be connected to the production system.
The campaign will seek to transfer the data from the subsoil to new barrels
Tullow Oil 's program brings together three components: reservoir knowledge, drilling capacity, and production infrastructure.
The 4D and OBN studies allow for improved target selection, the Noble Faye Kozack will provide the capacity to drill them, and the Jubilee and TEN infrastructure will allow the hydrocarbons obtained to be incorporated into the existing system.
In this way, the results from up to 10 wells will help determine how much additional potential can be extracted from both fields. They will also show the extent to which the new seismic data can be translated into reserves and sustain oil production for years to come.
With the Jubilee and TEN agreements extended until 2040, the 2027-2028 campaign will be a new phase within a longer-term deep-water development program for Ghana.
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