Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has announced the discovery of three new oil fields – one with a major volume of oil. The company has also found a potentially large gas field.
Following an exploration programme in central Oman, PDO has made a major oil discovery at Al Ghubar South, close to the existing Al Ghubar and Qarn Alam fields, PDO managing director John Malcolm said. In all, four exploration and appraisal wells were drilled in 2009 to confirm the discovery, and further drilling to delineate extensions of the field is planned during 2010.
“The amount of oil in place could be in excess of 1bn barrels, making this a significant discovery,” he said at the company’s annual media briefing. The oil found 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 the existing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology.
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.
PDO, which contributes 70 per cent of the country’s oil production, made two further oil discoveries last year at Dafiq West in the north of its concession area and Anbar in the central region.
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 PDO chief noted. 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 the 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,” he added.
Malcolm noted that PDO has also made a large gas discovery at Khulud in the north of PDO’s concession area. Gas volumes was found at a depth of more than 5,000 metres in the tight reservoirs with low permeability and at high temperatures.
“Two new wells are currently planned in the area in 2010 to help evaluate this discovery,” he said.
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