The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), successfully lifted a total of 994,691 barrels of Jubilee crude oil from the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah using a Belgian flagged vessel MT “FELICITY”.

The GNPC lifted the crude oil on behalf of the Ghana Group, comprising Government of Ghana (GoG) and GNPC.

The 994,691 barrels of oil lifted is made up of accumulated government royalty of 275,346 barrels and accumulated GNPC’s 13.75 per cent participating interest entitlement of 719,345 barrels. A statement issued in Accra, on Thursday, said the vessel had since set sail to deliver the cargo to a Total Refinery, in the port of Fos, France.

GNPC with the assistance of Vitol and Woodfields Energy Resources (formerly Cirrus Energy Services) successfully marketed the cargo on the best available commercial terms.

The premium achieved over Dated Brent obtained was an improvement over previous Jubilee crude oil lifting. “This sale brings us closer to achieving our objective of realising the maximum technical value for Jubilee Crude in the shortest possible time through our aggressive international marketing efforts, “the statement said.

It said, based on current price trends, it was expected to realise about 108 million dollars from the sale of Ghana’s second lifting.

“The final value will be determined by June 1, 2011, as the average of five consecutive days of Dated Brent prices published in Platt’s Crude Oil Marketwire,” it added.

The statement said Vitol/Woodfields were selected to assist GNPC market and trade Ghana’s entitlements of Jubilee crude oil for 2011 and were discussing with GNPC the possibility of a longer term joint venture marketing relationship, which would enable GNPC to further develop its petroleum marketing and trading capabilities.

The GNPC reassured Ghanaians that the measurement/metering system onboard the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah was electronic, comprehensive, effective and accurate. “The system has been designed to automatically detect and compensate for any defects that occur in any of its parts,” it added.