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MEOG Pro J e C ts & Com Panies MEOG

Tethys signs new EPSA in Oman

oman SWEDiSH firm Tethys Oil this week signed an period of another three years, followed by a
exploration and production-sharing agreement 15-year production licence if a commercial dis-
(EPSA) with the government of Oman for the covery is made. The production has an extension
Sultanate’s onshore Block 58. option for an additional five years.
The concession area is in the Dhofar Gov- Should a commercial discovery be made,
ernorate of south-west Oman, adjacent to the state-owned OQ has the right to acquire “up to
Tethys-operated Block 49. The company will a 30% interest in Block 58 against refunding of
operate and hold a 100% interest in Block 58 via past expenditure”.
its wholly owned subsidiary, Tethys Oil Qatbeet. Work commitments covered by the initial
The block covers an area of 4,557 square km, three-year exploration period include a 3D seis-
spanning the western flank of the South Oman mic campaign and the drilling of two exploration
Salt Basin and the Western Deformation Front. wells.
Tethys has acquired 7,600 km of 2-D seismic Upon signature of the EPSA on July 5, Tethys
1,100 square km of 3-D seismic data, which was managing director Magnus Nordin said: “The
shot by previous operators, as well as raw logs signing of this EPSA represents another step in
and well reports from two wells drilled within Tethys Oil’s strategy in [the] Sultanate of Oman.”
the block boundaries. Tethys also holds stakes in Omani blocks 3 &
in a press release, Tethys said that these wells 4 (30%), 49 (100%) and 56 (20%).
encountered hydrocarbon shows, with “multi- The Swedish firm also attempted to acquire
ple play concepts … believed to exist within the a 2% stake in Block 53 in late 2018 but was
block boundaries, including plays familiar to thwarted by a partner exercising pre-emption
Tethys, with several leads identified.” rights. Block 53 contains the country’s most
The EPSA includes an initial exploration productive field, Mukhaizna, and is operated by
period of three years with an optional extension Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) of the US.™

Iran starts up new

petrochemicals plant

iran irAN marked the launch of the 140,000 tonne tpy and worth $11.5bn in investment.
per year (tpy) Miandoab petrochemicals plant Thanks to their launch, national output will
last week, the iranian energy ministry’s Shana reach 90mn tpy.
news service reported. iran has sought to build up its downstream
Construction of the plant in the north-west- sector in recent years in response to sanctions
ern province of West Azarbaijan was started in being imposed on its crude oil exports. it has
2016. found it easier to ship out fuels and petrochem-
it is the first petrochemicals facility to be fed icals discretely, and some products are not sanc-
with locally-made catalysts, the head of project tioned at all.
operator Bakhtar Holding, Davood rabbani, As a result of the fall in iranian oil shipments,
was quoted as saying at a ceremony. petrochemicals became iran’s biggest driver of
iranian President Hassan rouhani attended foreign currency income last year. They con-
the ceremony via video link. He also oversaw stitute almost a third of the country’s non-oil
the inauguration of a new unit at the imam exports, according to Shana.
Khomeini refinery in the central Markazani Much of iran’s petrochemicals capacity is
province that will produce over 190,000 litres gas-based, using ethane supplies from the giant
per year of hexane. South Pars field as feedstock. iran has the world’s
iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zan- second-largest gas reserves after russia, esti-
ganeh, also attending the ceremonies, said that mated by BP at almost 32 trillion cubic metres.
as many as 17 petrochemical projects were Most petrochemicals companies in iran are
expected to be up and running by March 2021 either directly or indirectly controlled by govern-
with a combined production capacity of 25mn ment-controlled state entities.™

Week 27 08•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9