Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) said Monday the Jubilee field offshore Ghana will flow its first oil on schedule Dec. 15 and will immediately be capable of producing 55,000 barrels a day.

"As new wells are completed over a three- to six-month period, production will increase to 120,000 barrels a day," Tullow said in a statement.

The 1.5-billion-barrel field was discovered in June 2007 and has been fast-tracked to production by Tullow and its partners Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) and Kosmos Energy.

The Jubilee discovery has opened up a new oil basin offshore
West Africa . Tullow has discovered another 1.4-billion-barrel field, called Owo-Tweneboa, and Anadarko has made further oil discoveries offshore Sierra Leone .

At 1445 GMT Tullow shares were down 0.9% at 1171 pence.