Page 13 - MEOG Week 10 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Maha Energy outlines plans for Mafraq

OMAN SWEDEN’S Maha Energy this week announced production testing system.
its five-year operational strategy for assets in It has committed to drill eight horizontal
Oman and the Americas. While the company wells later that year under the second phase of
has aims of producing around 7,000 barrels of development, raising output to anticipated peak
oil equivalent per day (boepd) from its assets in production of 3,000 bpd. Maha plans to main-
Brazil and the US by 2023, of more relevance to tain this plateau through its third phase, begin-
Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG) are its plans for ning with a single exploration well in Q4 2022,
Block 70 in Central Oman, home to the Mafraq followed by up to 200 development wells in mid-
heavy oil field. to-late 2024 providing commerciality is declared
The company was awarded 100% owner- earlier that year.
ship in the exploration and production-sharing With the option to farm down up to 50% of
agreement (EPSA) for Block 70 by the Sultan- the licence and remain as operator, the company
ate’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals in Sep- cited that its operatorship agreement provides
tember following months of speculation about “full control of scope and timing of invest-
the award. ments (beyond the initial committed work
In the five-year strategy, Maha said that programme)”.
“Mafraq is significantly de-risked through exten- At the time of the award, the company’s presi-
sive seismic, a total of five wells drilled, includ- dent and CEO, Jonas Lindvall, said: “The Mafraq
ing a long-term production test flowing >15,700 oil field contains significant amounts of oil and
barrels of oil on a 22-day test (average >700 bar- previous and extensive pump tests has proved
rels per day [bpd])”. the productivity of the field.”
The EPSA has an initial exploration period Maha noted that Mafraq was discovered
of three years with an optional extension period by PDO in 1988 and was further delineated by
of another three years. Should a commercial four wells and 3D seismic in stages between
discovery be made, this can be extended into then and 2010. Mafraq field is estimated to hold
a 15-year production licence, with an optional 185-280mn barrels of original oil in place (OIP),
five-year extension, while the state oil firm OQ though Maha estimates it combines proven
has the right to acquire a 30% interest. plus probable (2P) reserves and 2C resources at
During the first period, Maha is committed to 23.3mn barrels as of December 31, 2020.
carry out geological studies, seismic reprocess- Lindvall noted: “The fact that PDO did not
ing and well commitments. develop this asset is by no means a reflection of
The company has planned for a phased the quality of the asset; it just reflects the reality
appraisal and development approach and an of constrained resources and project ranking.” It
“initial committed work programme investment covers an area of 639 square km, and 2D and 3D
estimated at approximately $14.6mn”. These seismic data acquired by previous operators has
investments cover the exploration phase of the been provided to Maha.
field’s development, with a further $31.8mn of The block was one of five concessions
planned spend to increase output to 3,000 bpd included in the country’s 2019 licensing round. It
from 2024 onwards, pending results. The initial is located in the oil-producing Ghaba Salt Basin.
phase comprises the drilling of two data wells in Like the other licences included in the auction,
early 2022 “to establish oil water contact and test it was carved out of PDO’s 900,000-square km
produce an expected 300 bpd”. It anticipates rais- Block 6, which has a total production capacity of
ing output to 1,250 bpd by 2022 through an early around 650,000 bpd.™

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