Page 11 - MEOG Week 12 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Jordan kicks off exploration effort

JORDAN JORDAN’S National Petroleum Co. (NPC) last All but Sirhan Development, Petra and Rum
week kicked off exploration efforts in the east- were included in an ill-fated licensing round in
ern Jafr and Sirhan concessions as part of plans 2017, which was extended following a lack of
announced in November last year. interest.
The exploration efforts were officially Several have been extensively explored – by
launched during a site visit by Jordanian Min- heavyweights of the calibre of BP and Shell, both
ister of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) of which withdrew during the first half of the
Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, who said that NPC, in col- decade – with extensive 2D and limited 3D seis-
laboration with the ministry, had analysed 2D mic surveys conducted.
and 3D seismic data for the area. All the areas have been explored before to
He highlighted that the retesting would be varying degrees – with the number of wells
carried out on the Sirhan 8 well, which had hit oil drilled ranging from three at Sirhan to 20 in the
when drilled by the Natural Resources Authority Dead Sea area, according to material on each
in 1989, with the aim of increasing productivity. block published by MEMR.
Al-Kharabsheh said that the NPC would Past information indicates that more than
carry out a drilling campaign that is expected to half of the Dead Sea wells have yielded oil and gas
be concluded by the end of June. shows, as have several of those drilled at most of
The minister also visited the Hamza oilfield, the blocks. The Petra and Rum blocks are located
where he said that work is ongoing to assess the in the far south-west.
results of a 3D seismic survey carried out by The adjacent Azraq and Sirhan licences –
three international firms to provide further data covering respectively 6,311 and 7,970 square
on the asset’s petroleum system. km in the central east along the Saudi border –
Al-Kharabsheh noted that the ministry had were also previously offered in a three-block bid
been updated on production from two wells at round in 2014. However, with the tender coin-
Hamza and said that the produced oil was being ciding with a protracted oil price crash, awards
transported to the 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) were never made. Shell agreed to conduct a
Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co. (JPRC) facility at nine-month study of the two blocks in 2012 but
Zarqa. He added that a study was ongoing for the declined to enter a longer-term deal.
identification of three targets for drilling in late The Jafr block covers 10,662 square km
2022 or early 2022. directly to the south of Sirhan, while the
In July last year, Prime Minister and Minis- 10,841-square km Dead Sea block lies in the
ter of Defence Bisher Al Khasawneh formally central west along the border with Israel, and
launched work for phase two of the rehabilitation the North Highlands and West Safawi blocks are
project which by Q4 had increased output at the located in the north and border Syria.
field from just 5 bpd to around 1,500-2,000 bpd. Excluded from both the 2017 licensing round
The first phase, which was started in December and the latest effort is the Risha block in the far
2020, delivered a total of 52,000 barrels of oil to west – source of the kingdom’s only current gas
Zarqa refinery, which is currently undergoing production. BP relinquished control to the gov-
an expansion project to increase capacity from ernment in 2014 after five years of unproductive
100,000 bpd to 120,000 bpd. exploration.
At the time, the head of the MEMR, Hala A four-year production-sharing agreement
Zawati said that the second phase would see (PSA) was awarded to UK-registered Egyp-
NPC rehabilitate existing wells to increase pro- tian-owned company IPG in March 2016 that
duction, with tests already carried out to assess also covered the East Safawi block. However, fur-
the output potential of two of the four wells. ther updates have not been forthcoming and the
Meanwhile, Al-Kharabsheh said that the company’s UK subsidiary was dissolved a month
MEMR is preparing technical information about after the contract was signed.
other areas which will be provided to interna- State-owned NPC has since been awarded
tional firms that have expressed interest in taking a 50-year contract for Risha as well as PSAs for
part in E&P activities in the country. East Safawi and Hamza.™
While other Arab nations have been outspo-
ken on their plans to ramp up production amid
global supply concerns and volatile prices, the
Hashemite Kingdom has struggled to gain much
traction with IOCs through recent unsuccessful
licensing efforts.
In April 2021, Zawati said that the Azraq,
Sirhan, Jafr, West Safawi, Dead Sea, North High-
lands, Sirhan Development, Petra and Rum
acreages would all be opened up for exploration,
though none are understood to have yet been
apportioned.

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