Page 16 - MEOG Week 01 2021
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MEOG                                   PROJECTS & COMPANIES                                            MEOG


       Sharjah’s Mahani field comes on-stream





        UAE              THE UAE’s Sharjah National Oil Corp. (SNOC)  up running to nine months.
                         and its Italian partner Eni announced in early   Eni was awarded its stake in Area B as it won
                         January that gas production had begun at the  all three of the blocks offered in an onshore bid
                         Mahani field discovered in the emirate a year  round launched in June by SNOC.
                         ago.                                   The Italian company took 75% operating
                           Production will come from the Mahani-1  stakes in concession Areas A and C – covering
                         well, which is located in Sharjah’s Area B, for  respectively 437 square km in the north and
                         which a deal was signed in January 2019 giving  1,184 square km in the south-east, with SNOC
                         the firms a 50:50 split with SNOC, the operator.  holding the remainder.
                           The 264-square km concession in central   According to information provided at the
                         Sharjah contains both the existing Sajaa gas and  auction’s outset, Eni will be required to drill at
                         condensate field and a known but unappraised  least one well at Area A and acquire 600 km of
                         deep gas discovery.                  seismic at Area C during the initial exploration
                           Mahani is reported to be the first gas discov-  period. The licences will run for 30 years.
                         ery in Sharjah since 1983, with the Mahani-1   All three blocks lie in the proven Thrust Zone
                         well drilled to a total depth of 14,597 feet (5,000  play and were promoted by the authorities on the
                         metres) and test flows running at a rate of 50mn  basis that fields in the area had already yielded
                         cubic feet (1.42mn cubic metres) per day of gas  142bn cubic metres of reserves. The pitch also
                         and associated condensate.           trumpeted the purported ease of commercial-
                           In March 2020, SNOC said that produc-  ising any discoveries by dint of their potential
                         tion at Mahani would be pushed back by two  connection to extensive existing production and
                         months because of the impact of the coronavirus  processing infrastructure, installed chiefly to
                         (COVID-19) pandemic, though this delay ended  serve the Sajaa field.™





       Tethys Oil spins the bit in Oman





        OMAN             SWEDEN’S Tethys Oil this week announced that  said in mid-2020 that work would begin before
                         it had begun drilling work on the Thameen-1  the end of the year.
                         well in Block 49 onshore Oman.         Despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan-
                           The news follows the company’s deal to  demic and the resultant oil sector downturn,
                         farm out a 50% stake in the exploration and  Tethys ramped up its efforts in Oman in 2020.
                         production-sharing agreement (EPSA) to US  In October, it agreed terms on a deal that will see
                         unconventionals specialist EOG Resources in  it acquire an additional stake of 45% in Block 56
                         November, a deal which is subject to govern-  EPSA, making it the operator. It also announced
                         ment approval.                       a deal to buy the stake from Indonesia’s Medco
                           Tethys said in a statement to press that the  Energi for $5mn, with Tethys also agreeing to
                         well would be drilled to a total depth of around  carry $2mn of Medco’s future expenditure in the
                         4,000 metres, with operations expected to take  block. The Indonesian company retains a share
                         roughly 45 days. Thameen-1 is located in the  of 5%.
                         north of Block 49 at Marsudad village.  Meanwhile, EOG’s entry to Block 49 illus-
                           The company is primarily targeting a late  trated the firm’s confidence in Oman following
                         Ordovician Hasirah sandstone layer at a depth  its entry to the Sultanate in September, when it
                         of 3,500 metres but will also test mid-Ordovician  signed an EPSA for Block 36 in south-western
                         Saih Nihayda sandstone at 3,700 metres as well  Oman.
                         as investigating the shallower Gharif Sandstone.  Under the terms of the deal, by mid-2022
                           Managing director Magnus Nordin said:  EOG will drill at least two exploratory wells
                         “The Thameen-1 well is designed to penetrate  in the 18,556-square km onshore concession,
                         several potentially hydrocarbon-bearing rock  which it acquired from the local subsidiary of
                         layers. We have three defined targets, but we  Canada-based Allied Petroleum Exploration
                         will analyse all data from the well to increase our  (APEX). The move was a significant step in its
                         understanding of the potential oil plays in the  diversification away from dependence on US
                         block, conventional as well as unconventional.”  shale assets, though this was unsurprising given
                           Tethys is using the Abraj-204 drill rig which is  comments by the company’s CEO and chair-
                         on contract from Abraj Energy Services.  man William (Bill) Thomas saying that he does
                           The commencement of drilling is only mar-  not anticipate US oil production to recover to
                         ginally behind schedule, with Nordin having  pre-pandemic levels.™



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