Offshore staff
LONDON -- Malta Oil has signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) as contractor and operator with the Government of Malta to drill a well on Area 4, which includes blocks 4, 5, 6, and 7, offshore Malta.
The PSC grants the exclusive right to explore for and exploit oil and gas from a 5,700-sq km (2,201-sq mi) area that extends south from Maltese waters to the agreed and internationally recognized border with Libya.
The PSC is for a term of 30 years and is divided into exploration and production periods. The six-year exploration period is divided into three stages with an initial three-year stage in which Malta Oil is obliged to undertake a 2,500-m (8,202-ft) well.
According to the company, the two main exploration plays in the area are the:
- Upper Cretaceous: This play derives from the original interpretation of the Cretaceous stratigraphic and structural architecture of the Melita-Medina graben. The Upper Cretaceous is made up by Upper Cretaceous shelf margin carbonates reservoirs (equivalent to Isis and Miskar reservoirs) sealed by Maastrichtian-Paleogene shales and marls (El Haria Fm equivalent), and charged during the Miocene-Pliocene from Albian (Lower Fahdene Fm) and Cenomanian-Turonian (Bahloul Fm) source rocks.
- Eocene: This play has been recognized since the 1990s and consists of Lower Eocene bioclastic accumulations and/or isolated patch reefs deposited in a carbonate ramp setting (El Garia Fm), possibly sealed by Middle-Upper Eocene shales drape (Souar Fm). The combination of erosion and Early Eocene tectonic inversion has provided a favorable early trap configuration. Charging is believed to have taken place during Miocene-Pleistocene from Albian (Lower Fahdene Fm) and Cenomanian-Turonian (Bahloul Fm) source rocks.
Four prospects and five leads on the PSC Area have been delineated. The total likely hydrocarbon potential of the PSC Area is estimated at 5 Bbbl of oil in place with resultant total prospective recoverable oil resources of 1,475 MMbbl. The three most mature prospects are located in block 7 along the ramp setting of the Melita Medina Graben close to the Libya pelagic basin.
07/21/2008
