Jeremy Beckman - Editor, Europe
Most countries in the Middle East have experienced some fresh offshore activity over the past 12 months. But the main event of note was Noble Energy’s subsalt gas discoveries in the previously unexplored deepwater Levantine basin.
First up in January was Tamar, 90 km (56 mi) offshore Haifa in northernIsrael, which encountered three productive reservoirs in the Lower Miocene. More recently, a well on the Dalit structure in 4,500 ft (1,371 m) of water in the Michal license, closer to the coast, encountered more than 110 ft (33.5 m) of net pay in a similar geological interval.
Noble and its partners Delek and Isramco already aim to start production in 2012, although Lebanon’s government has warned against premature action in case Tamar extends into Lebanese waters. Israel’s administration, undaunted, is thought to have awarded to Isramco further large offshore tracts for exploration, including the Dan permit off the Dan region coast.
Israel’s neighborEgypt has much larger proven offshore deposits which continue to generate interest. Abuqir Petroleum, a joint venture between Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and Italy’s Edison, found gas and condensate in March with a well in the Abu Qir concession off Alexandria. The Abu Qir fields have been in production since 1980, and currently deliver annually 1.5 bcm (53 bcf) of gas and 1.5 MMbbl of liquids through four platforms.
Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas has acquired a 29% interest in the NW Demiatta exploration license in the offshore Nile Delta region from Shell Egypt. The partners, also including GdF Suez, plan an exploration well later this year. Further foreign companies may be assigned licenses in the Mediterranean Sea: Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS) invited applications for seven blocks by early February under its 2008 international bid round.
Last summer, Tokyo-based Arabian Oil Co. gained approval from Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum to develop a field in the Northwest October (NWO) block in the Gulf of Suez. FEED work was due to be completed by end-2008. In the same region, Canadian company Sea Dragon Energy aims to acquire the Ras El Ush concession, which currently produces 1,000 b/d of oil. Sea Dragon believes rates could be increased through well stimulation.
In Tunisia’s Gulf of Hammamet, gas production from Phase 1 of BG/ETAP’s Hasdrubal field should start this year, via a normally unmanned platform. Gas and condensate will be exported through a 117-km (72.7-mi), 18-in. (45.7-cm) pipeline to new gas processing and LPG facilities onshore respectively at Sfax and Gabes.
Also in the Gulf of Hammamet, Calgary-based Storm Ventures International is at work on drilling and FPSO contracts for its Cosmos oil development, which it hopes to bring onstream next year. Aker Solutions was contracted for subsea trees and control systems last summer.
Nearby, Storm is considering a re-development of the decommissioned Tazerka field, evaluating an extension to the south and a deeper zone not included in the original project.
Saudi Arabia looks to step up production of natural gas to serve its rapidly rising domestic energy demand. Recently Saudi Aramco contracted J. Ray McDermott to construct and install four offshore wellhead complexes platforms and subsea pipelines for the 9 tcf Karan field, 100 km (62 mi) north of Dhahran. These will produce collectively 1.8 bcf/d of raw sour Khuff gas, transported through a 110-km (68.3-mi) subsea trunkline to process facilities at Khursaniyah.
The platform fabrication scope includes topsides and jackets weighing a total of 27,000 metric tons (27,962 tons), and will involve J. Ray’s new cladding facility in Jebel Ali, Dubai, which is equipped for welding high-integrity corrosion-resistant alloys. J. Ray is also working on three platforms and shallow water pipelines for Aramco’s South Safaniya oil field.
Saudi Arabia is thought to be putting further development work on Karan out to tender, but Aramco has not detailed any plans for the Arabiyah and Hisbah offshore gas fields, discovered earlier this year.
To the north in the waters offIraq, South Oil Co. has contracted Foster Wheeler Energy for basic engineering for new offshore facilities to support the Al-Basra terminal. These will include new single-point mooring tanker loading buoys, and oil pumping, metering equipment and pipelines, to lift export capacity to 4.5 MMb/d of oil.
On the southeast side of the Arabian Peninsula, Zadco’s Bravo is the first oil-loading classed in the Middle East, in this case by DNV. The single-point mooring terminal comprises a 12.5-m (41-ft) diameter, 4.8-m (15.7-ft) deep CALM buoy, and will offload crude from the Zirku field, 140 km (87 mi) northwest ofAbu Dhabi. It is designed for 25 years continuous in-water service.
In February, RAK Petroleum produced first oil and associated gas from the West Bukha field in the Strait of Hormuz offshore Oman. Production goes from two wells through a new six-slot unmanned platform in 90 m (295 ft) of water, 25 km (15.5 mi) from the Musandam Peninsula. From the new installation, output is exported to the existing Bukha production platform via a 12-in. (30.5-cm) subsea multiphase flowline, before being sent through another multiphase line to the Khor Khwair processing plant in Ras Al Khaimah.
In Ras Laffan on the Arabian Gulf coast,Qatar recently inaugurated Qatargas 2, featuring what is claimed to be the world’s two largest LNG trains, with a combined capacity of 15.6 million tons (14.15 million metric tons) per year. Much of the output has been contracted to the new South Hook import terminal in Milford Haven, UK. Gas from the new offshore production complex on the North field began flowing into Qatargas 2’s inlet receiving facilities last fall.
More wellhead platforms with a total of 33 wells are being installed to provide deliveries for the Qatargas 3 and 4 expansion projects. Also in Ras Laffan, the RasGas complex should start up two more high-capacity trains later this year.
In November, Qatar Petroleum signed an exploration and production-sharing agreement with Wintershall for the 544 sq km (210 sq mi) Offshore Block-4 North (Khuff), northwest of the North field and the Al-Shaheen oil field. The 25-year permit has an initial 30-month exploration period, the terms including 2D and 3D seismic acquisition and exploration drilling in the Khuff formation.
Across the median line in the waters offIran, confusion remains over the status of numerous projects designed to harness gas from the South Pars field. According to National Iranian Oil Co.’s Website, marine engineering contractor Petropars has been completing platform installations for South Pars 6, 7, and 8 ahead of an imminent start-up. Last year the country’s Oil Ministry said Phase 12 development had been assigned to a consortium of Iranian firms, but also called on foreign companies to invest in the project.
One scheme definitely going ahead is a revamp of the facilities on South Pars 1, including replacement pipelines. Shell and Repsol have suspended operations on South Pars 13 and 14, but are maintaining a presence in Iran. Likewise Total, which has denied it is proceeding with the Phase 11 development. However, the company has too much at stake to withdraw from the Persian Gulf, having invested so much in earlier phases of South Pars. One source toldOffshore the industry was waiting for the outcome of the country’s imminent presidential elections, on the assumption that there will be changes thereafter in relations between Iran and the West.
Recently Iran and Syria signed an oil and gas cooperation agreement, which could extend to installation of a new “Persian Pipeline” to take Iranian gas to Europe through Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, allegedly also crossing Iraq. And Iran has been pitching for involvement in another long-distance trunkline, Nabucco, exporting gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The European Union supports the project as a way of lessening its dependence on gas imports from Russia. One source would probably be the Shah Deniz field in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea.
In the Absheron offshore block, 100 km (62 mi) from Baku inAzerbaijan, Total recently signed an exploration, development, and production-sharing agreement with state oil company SOCAR. Total also has a 10% stake in South Caucasus Pipeline Co. which owns the pipeline that exports Shah Deniz’s gas to Turkey and Georgia.
On the other side of the Caspian Sea, the partners in the Kashagan project offKazakhstan have relieved Agip KCO of operating duties. A new entity, North Caspian Sea Operating Co., has taken over.
