Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production (OOCEP), the upstream arm of state-owned Oman Oil Co., said it is expanding explorationg in Block 60, Oman Daily Observer reported.
The concession includes the Abu Butabul tight gas field, which came online last December following a $1.2bn investment by OOCEP.
Processed natural gas from the field is fed into the gas grid operated by Oman Gas Company and condensates go into PDO’s Main Oil Line at Barik.
Gas production is being gradually ramped up to reach a plateau output of 70mn standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) along with condensates averaging 6,000 barrels per day (bpd), the local paper reported.
OOCEP has also been pushing ahead with an exploration programme targeting other hydrocarbon reserves within Block 60.
The company said in its last year’s annual report that it plans to build on the success of the Bisat 1 exploration well, which was spudded last September.
Bisat-1 targeted the Bisat prospect, located in the north-western part of the block and was planned to be drilled to a depth of around 4,500 metres.
In the process, the company said it discovered hydrocarbons in the Shuaiba, Lower Haima/Barik and Ghudun formations.
“The exploration drilling programme is likely to further expand from the earlier envisaged programme of minimum of 4-5 wells by incorporating follow-up exploratory wells to the Bisat success,” OOCEP said.
Oil and gas production from assets, both wholly and partly owned or operated by OOCEP, averaged 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2014, accoridng to Oman Daily.
