Comprehensive  Ghana Oil and Gas news, information, updates, analysis


News in Brief

EPA to allow flaring on the jubilee fields

  • SOURCE: | qwesa2big
  • EPA   LOGOThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed it may approve flaring of gas on the jubilee field.

    Partners on the jubilee field have for some time now re-injected gas into the oil field.
    But lead operator of the Jubilee field, Tullow oil says the field’s reservoir has reached a level where it is not safe to continue re-injection of gas.

    The partners have begun deliberations with government on the matter despite a zero flaring policy.

    Deputy Director of Oil and Gas at the EPA, Kojo Agbenor-Efunam told Citi Business News the situation has reached an emergency level and the authority will approve flaring if the energy ministry does.

    He stated that “when you talk about zero policy, it is where you have all the things you need to be able to evacuate your gas but the company will deliberately chose to flare without those options. Where we are now is something like an emergency where you have to do something in order to resolve your system. So that is where we are now, and we are looking at all the options. The studies will reveal all the impact we are looking at before we give approval.”

    Mr. Agbenor-Efunam added that the EPA is awaiting supporting documents from the jubilee partners on the matter.

    “As far as we are concerned before we give any approval or permit, you need to provide documentation why the permit should be given to you” he added.

    Meanwhile, government is expected to soon make a decision on the proposal put forward by the partners of the jubilee field on the fate of gas production.

    Tullow Oil last Thursday made a proposal to the ministry of energy and petroleum on a list of possible options which includes flaring up the gas, reducing oil production, among others.

    Following this, a site tour was made to the gas project at Atuabo last Friday of which lead contractors, SINOPEC gave assurance that gas will be available in May.

    Communications Director at the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawa told Citi Business News, the ministry is considering the options and will soon make the decision.

    “They have the option of flaring which the ministry is very cautious of in approving because at the end of the day, we are cautious of our environment and all the other factors. They also gave us that the idea that continuous reinjection will compromise the integrity of the wells so they will want to reduce oil production which has implications on revenue for the state.”

    According to him, “there is also an option to construct a bypass on shore. No decision has been taken on that and based on the official statement from SINOPEC, the managers of the sector are now well equipped to be able to take a decision that will be to the betterment of Ghanaians, the environment and economy in terms of revenue.”

    Source: citionline.com

    Get the latest news and updates on Ghana’s oil and gas value chain by following us Reporting Oil and Gas on twitter @oilgasghana and like our facebook page and get at us on Google+. Subscribe to our group to get update

     

    Leave a reply

    About Us
    Reporting Oil and Gas project was launched on 4th June 2009 at Takoradi, Western Region, Ghana by Penplusbytes (www.penplusbytes.org) with the vision of providing a one stop online information and knowledge about Ghana’s oil and gas sector read more
    Twitter Activity Stream
     

    Partners We are proud to be associated with:

    Skip to toolbar