Conrad Prabhu -
MUSCAT, APRIL 3 -
Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production (OOCEP), the upstream arm of the government-owned energy investment firm Oman Oil Company (OOC), has announced additional potential discoveries totalling in excess of 430 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in 2016.
This increase in the reserves potential comes on the back of a string of oil and gas discoveries most notably in its flagship Block 60 concession in the midwest of the Sultanate. The wholly Omani upstream company has also notched up a number of successes elsewhere across its substantial portfolio of operations in the Sultanate.
OOCEP’s Vice-President (Technical) Eng Saif al Khayari characterised 2016 as a “very successful year” for the company, exemplified by its selection for the title of ‘Fastest Growing Company in the Middle East’ by Wood MacKenzie, a well-known business consultancy firm. The award recognises OOCEP’s strong production performance since 2015, he said.
OOCEP operates a total of five assets in the Sultanate across the hydrocarbon spectrum, and has interests in five non-operated assets, in addition to financial interests in partnership with two major players
in the Sultanate, besides two assets in Kazakhstan as well. Speaking at the Annual Media Briefing 2017 hosted by the Ministry of Oil & Gas yesterday, Eng Al Khayari said total production from the operated and non-operated assets amounted to 83,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2016, up from around 33,000 boepd in 2015, entailing a steep 150 per cent increase. Much of this increase came from the recently awarded Block 9 concession, he said.
“We will continue this growth by targeting nearly 100,000 boepd from operated and non-operated assets,” he stated.
A key highlight of the past year’s performance was the discovery of three “significant” oil and gas fields — all uncovered in the company’s Block 60 licence, he said. The first of these finds, named ‘Bisat’, was reported north of the currently producing Abu Butabul (ABB) field. Light oil flowed at the rate of 1,000 barrels per day (bpd) during testing.
Not far from this find came the Abu Butabul North discovery where an exploratory well targeting a deep Haima formation successfully produced gas at the test rate of 25 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), along with some condensate.
“We are currently appraising the ABB North field and laying down a flowline to accelerate production from this discovery. We are also working towards delivering early production from the Block with first gas planned for early next year,” the executive said.
A further significant find, dubbed Abu Butabul South, yielded around 600 bpd of light oil with significant volumes of gas. The discovery requires significant appraisal which will be pursued in the coming years.
Elsewhere around Oman, OOCEP has reported further headway in the development and commercialisation of hydrocarbon resources across its expanding portfolio. In Block 65, acting on behalf of the Ministry of Oil & Gas, the company says it is studying the feasibility of exploiting the Block’s unconventional oil potential, having already successfully drilled a horizontal well. Testing and data analysis is ongoing, he said.
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