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New oil and gas finds to boost
Oman’s hydrocarbon potential
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Al Ghubar South field likely among largest oil discoveries
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Major gas find in Khulud
By A Staff Reporter
MUSCAT — Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO), the country’s premier hydrocarbon producer,
announced yesterday a string of new oil and gas discoveries, including two
fields — one oil and the other gas — with significant hydrocarbon potential.
PDO Managing Director John Malcolm made the announcement at the company’s
annual media briefing held at Mina al Fahal yesterday. Nasser bin Khamis al
Jashmi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas and Member of PDO’s
Board of Directors, attended the briefing. Also present were PDO Board
members and senior company executives.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that 2009 was a successful year for our
Exploration Directorate. During the year, PDO discovered three new oil
fields, one with a major volume of oil in place. The company has also found
a potentially large gas field,” Malcolm stated. Following an ambitious
exploration programme in central Oman, PDO made a major oil discovery at Al
Ghubar South, close to the existing Al Ghubar and Qarn Alam fields. In all,
four exploration and appraisal wells were drilled in 2009 to confirm the
discovery, and further drilling to delineate further extensions of the field
is planned during 2010.
The amount of oil in place could be in excess of 1 billion barrels making
this a significant discovery. The oil encountered in the reservoir is both
heavy and viscous and in late 2009, PDO successfully carried out a steam
trial to prove that the oil can be recovered using existing enhanced oil
recovery (EOR) technologies. A development team has been assembled to fast
track this discovery and over the coming months a field development plan
will be prepared by the in-house Study Centre. Also during 2009, PDO made
two further oil discoveries at Dafiq West in the north of PDO’s concession
area and Anbar in the central region of the Sultanate.
The Anbar discovery, close to the existing Sadad field, followed an
innovative drilling campaign in which 12 wells were drilled in a grid
pattern. Five of the wells encountered oil in the Gharif reservoir and these
are currently being hooked up to the existing production network in the area
as part of an early production system designed to evaluate the new field.
The new Dafiq West field is close to the Dafiq field which was originally
discovered in 2005. A production test well at Dafiq West has already been
connected to local production system, joining three existing test wells from
the Dafiq field.
Once the evaluation process is completed, the Dafiq West and Dafiq fields
will be jointly developed. PDO also made a large gas discovery at Khulud in
the north of PDO’s concession area. Gas in potentially large volumes was
found at a depth of more than 5,000 metres in very tight reservoirs with low
permeability and at very high temperatures. Two new wells are currently
planned in the area in 2010 to help evaluate this discovery. “These four
discoveries represent an important success for PDO’s exploration efforts
during 2009,” Managing Director John Malcolm said.
“They highlight the continued hydrocarbons potential of Oman’s subsurface
and shows that there will be opportunities for further exploration for many
years to come.” Exploration Director Martin Stäuble added: “Even though its
oil will be difficult to produce, Al Ghubar South is likely to rank as one
of the largest oil discoveries ever made in Oman. The use of steam injection
during the exploration phase is a first which highlights PDO role as a
regional leader in the application of enhanced oil recovery technologies.”
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