Ghana’s upstream petroleum sector has received a major boost as Tullow Ghana Ltd and Eni Ghana resume drilling operations in the Jubilee and Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) fields, respectively. This renewed activity follows the approval of the two drilling programmes by the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition and the Petroleum Commission.
The drilling restart is being hailed as a strong signal of investor confidence in Ghana’s energy landscape, which had seen a slowdown in upstream activity in recent years. The two campaigns are expected not only to sustain oil production but also improve operational efficiency across the respective oil fields.
Tullow has contracted the Noble Venturer Drillship, already in Ghanaian waters, to drill the JBE-P well in the Jubilee South-East area. This Full Field Development well is projected to take 60 days to complete, with an average initial production of 2,800 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in Q3 2025, ramping up to 4,500 bopd by 2026. The rig will undergo a Special Periodic Survey afterward and is expected to return in Q4 2025 to continue Tullow’s two-year programme.
Eni’s campaign focuses on the SNKE-1X ST2 well, a side-track to an existing well targeting the Cenomanian reservoir in the Sankofa field. This move is set to enhance oil recovery over several years starting from the fourth quarter of 2025.
The Saipem Deep Value Driller, a 7th Generation state-of-the-art drillship, has been deployed for the Eni operations. It arrived in Ghana on May 28, 2025, from Côte d’Ivoire and commenced operations almost immediately—part of coordinated efforts between the government and contractors to minimize downtime and cut costs.
Historically, Tullow and Eni have drilled 50 and 21 wells respectively, with the upcoming campaigns expected to add an estimated 7.9 million and 6.2 million stock tank barrels (MMstb) of recoverable oil by the end of the licenses.
The Ministry and the Petroleum Commission are committed to ensuring that the new wells are executed with high environmental standards, safety protocols, and cost efficiency. Prior to the drilling campaigns, both companies, in collaboration with regulatory bodies, carried out extensive stakeholder engagements across Ghana’s coastline involving around 1,000 local fishermen and leaders to foster community collaboration.
Officials say the restart reflects international trust in Ghana’s new energy policies and reinforces the country’s geological potential despite ongoing global transitions in the energy space.
