In 2007, a joint venture backed partly by two American oil companies discovered significant oil deposits off the coast of southwestern Ghana.
The field is controlled by a partnership between London-based Tullow Oil PLC; Dallas-based Kosmos Energy, which is backed by U.S. private-equity firms Blackstone and Warburg Pincus; Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; as well as the Ghanaian government.
The Jubilee field, is one of West Africa’s biggest oil finds in years, containing recoverable reserves of at least 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with first output scheduled for the second half of 2010.Named for the fact that it was discovered in the same year the country celebrated 50years of independence, may reach a production level of 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) by 2011. (Ghana’s current consumption of oil is 40,000 to 60,000 bpd, almost all imported.)
“The International Monetary Fund predicts government revenues from oil and gas could reach a cumulative $20 billion between 2012 and 2030 in the Jubilee field alone,” a statement issued jointly by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) and Oxfam America said.
Submitted by Adama from Mali
