It is welcome news to know that Ghana has lifted its first crude oil consignment. The story published in the Ghanaian Times Newspaper reported that 86,312 metric tonnes of oil was lifted on Tuesday, January 4th 2010. Commercial production on the Jubilee Fields began on December 15th, 2010 with an initial daily production of 30,000 barrels.
I was interested to know if all the production had been accounted for so I did a little back of the envelope calculation. One metric ton of crude oil is approximately 7.33barrels thus a total of 632,667 barrels of sweet crude was carried off by the Oil tanker named Spike. From the start of commercial production up to the 4th of January makes 20days, so a total of 600,000 barrels will have been produced during that period at a daily production level of 30,000barrels. The balance of 32,667 barrels may have accrued from test production before commercial commencement and variations in the daily production levels. However, this balance could only be explained by the operators on the field since we do not presently have an independent regulator to provide the answers.
It is worthy to note some interesting facts. The Tema oil refinery which produces 45,000 barrels of oil a day could consume Ghana's first oil consignment within 13 days. On the other end of the scale, a big refinery such as the Shell Pernis Refinery in the Netherlands with production capacity of 400,000barrel/day could consume Ghana's first cargo within a day and a half.
The paper could however not acertain the destination of the oil tanker and the price at which the cargo will be sold.
The year 2011 has ushered Ghana into the league of oil exporting countries and it is my hope that the returns to the nation will provide further impetus for our development efforts.
