First BP Oman Khazzan gas in 2017

MUSCAT, March 21, 2016 – BP Oman expects to complete the development phase of its Khazzan natural gas project by 2017, targeting first gas production by the end of that year, the company said on the occasion of the Ministry of Oil and Gas’ media briefing in Muscat on Sunday.

In 2015, BP Oman drilled 11 wells and recorded 2,800 square km of seismic. Since the start of the development phase in 2014, the company has drilled 31 wells. A total of 330 wells are planned throughout the project’s lifecycle, which will run through 2043. BP Oman expects in-place gas reserves to be in excess of 2.8 tcm (100 tcf).

The event on Sunday also saw the Ministry of Oil and Gas elaborate on its plans for 2016, saying it would be reassessing the potential of Blocks 49, 52 an 30, which were returned to the ministry in 2015. The ministry’s existing agreements with the Occidental Petroleum-Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and BP-PDO partnerships for blocks 62 and 61, respectively, were extended. The ministry also signed an extension agreement with Petrol Oman for block 17.

In related news, PDO at the briefing announced it has achieved a production plateau average of 600,000 bopd in 2015, a level it had expected to reach in 2019. State-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company, on its part, said that its Sohar Refinery Improvement Project was scheduled for completion in Q4, 2016, enabling it to produce bitumen for the first time. The work should also increase output from 116,000 bpd to 198,000 bpd.

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