The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has hinted it is unlikely to extend the deadline for the flaring of gas by Tullow Oil Ghana.
Lead operator of the Jubilee oil field, Tullow, has said that it may request an extension to its temporary gas-flaring authorization.
According to the company, flaring is the only option available to them if Ghana’s gas company does not complete its infrastructure by the end of October.
[contextly_sidebar id=”thoPzs6lLDDnnPuxF0K62iRDdeQzGyd6″]Tullow was given permission by the EPA to flare 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per month as a result of the delay in the completing Ghana’s gas processing plant.
The authorization expires at the end of October.
In order for the oil exploration company to maintain a daily production at about 100,000 barrels of oil per day, about 1.7 billion standard cubic feet of gas from Jubilee had to be flared between June and September.
Flaring of gas from the offshore oil field was a tricky subject between government who preferred gas to be re-injected into the producing wells but Jubilee partners who feared continued re-injection would jeopardise production and their revenues.
Environmental concerns about gas-flaring have not changed over time, and industry player have made calls for the oil companies to pay an environmental tax for the activity.
Speaking to Citi Business News Deputy Director, Oil and Gas at the EPA, Kojo Abgenor-Efunam said the agency would consider a lot of factors on whether or not to grant an extension to the application but for now Tullow had not put in any application.
“It depends on the factors therefore if they come back and want to apply for an extension, we will look at all the variables in the equation which includes the completion of the infrastructural project and how the reservoir is performing and if it is okay to eject the gas for another two or three weeks for the project to be complete then we ask them to go back and will not grant the extension.”
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Norvan Acquah-Hayford/citifmonline.com/Ghana