A consortium of local and international energy firms has pitched proposals for the development of one of Oman’s most daunting upstream challenges – the Habhab ultra heavy oil field in south Oman.
Originally discovered in 1984, the field has long defied multiple attempts by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), among other contenders, to unlock its promising hydrocarbon potential, estimated in the order of one billion barrels of oil in place.
Speaking at the World Heavy Oil Congress, which opened at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday, Salim al Aufi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, said the Ministry will examine new proposals to develop the extremely viscous oil accumulation.
“My understanding is that there will be something presented to the Ministry very soon, and we will examine it to make sure it’s a robust development plan,” the Under-Secretary said. “There is potentially one billion barrels (of heavy oil) in the ground; we need to recover as much as we can, and if the recovery factors are credible as the numbers are showing, then we need to be a little bit more satisfied with the development options that will be presented. So hopefully by this year-end we will hear more about it.”
Later, in remarks to journalists, he said a
mix of international and local players were expected to submit proposals for the development of Habhab. With its hydrocarbon content officially classified as bitumen, Habhab’s development has posed formidable technical challenges that have tested the boundaries of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies currently deployed in the Sultanate.
Two years ago, majority Omani government-owned PDO, in whose license Habhab lies, scouted the international market for partners in harnessing the ultra-heavy oilfield’s prodigious hydrocarbon under a production sharing agreement.
That sourcing exercise failed to yield the desired results, with the Ministry now overseeing efforts to find suitable players, equipped with the right technologies and the finance to boot, to develop the field.
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