Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production (OOCEP) opened a newly developed tight gas field and a gas processing plant in Block 60 in Abu Butabul on Thursday.
Natural gas exports from the field, which started in November last year, reached 27mn standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd), while condensates amounted to 2,500 barrels per day (bpd).
OOCEP has so far invested $1.3bn in developing the field, a processing plant, and other related pipeline facilities.
The total investment in the present phase will reach $2.5bn once the remaining work is completed, the company said.
Salem bin Zahir Al Sibani, chief executive officer of OOCEP, said that natural gas and condensate production would gradually reach 70 MMscfd and 6,000bpd, respectively, by the middle of this year.
“The investment in the project amounted to $1.3 billion until the end of 2014. Development will continue as per the first plan for the project to reach about $2.5 billion,” he added.
“The project was completed in a record time of three years and is considered a global record at this stage,” said Al Sibani, adding, “The Sultanate is one of the first countries in the region to extract non-conventional gas from deep reservoirs.”
Abu Butabul, also known as Block 60, spans 1,500 sq km and is 100% owned and operated by OOCEP- a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Company, which is the Sultanate’s energy investment arm.
The newly built gas processing plant will allow the processing and export of unconventional tight gas into the Government Gas System for the first time in Oman’s modern history.
It has the capacity to treat 90 MMscfd of gas, 6,000 bpd of condensates and 2,000 bpd of water.
OOCEP other major work include natural gas and condensates treating plant, the construction of gathering network for well products and building an integrated storage and export system with the construction of dual pipelines.
“While the condensate is transported to PDO facilities, the gas is exported to the government gas system run by Oman Gas Company,” said Al Sibani.
