Page 11 - MEOG Week 50 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Sharjah considering 2023 bid

round as Mahani efforts continue

UAE THE emirate of Sharjah is considering holding but have not yet disclosed production rates.
an offshore licensing round in 2023 as its state Mosa told Platts that output from Mahani-1
oil firm works to develop a sizeable onshore gas is being limited below the test flow rate so that
deposit. SNOC can collect data and delineate the reser-
Speaking to S&P Global Platts during the voir. He added that the partners were intending
Middle East Executive Petroleum Conference to drill two more wells at the field in January
in Dubai last week, Sharjah National Oil Corp. 2022 and an exploration well elsewhere in the
(SNOC) CEO Hatem Mosa said that following Area B concession.
the success of its 2019 international licensing “Hopefully, if we do [make] a discovery in the
round, the company is “working on potential second prospect and we delineate Mahani better
other areas to open up for exploration offshore.” we would continue the drilling programme after
“It would be a bid round, but it is still in 2022,” he said.
preparation phase,” he said. The CEO added: “The seismic shows that [its
In the 2019 round, SNOC awarded shares in potential] is significant. If it is as per the seis-
onshore concession Areas A, B and C to Italy’s mic, it will be very economical to produce and
Eni, with which it discovered the Mahani field develop.”
in Area B in early 2020. SNOC is the operator Eni also took 75% operating stakes in con-
of Area B, with the two companies each holding cession Areas A and C – covering respectively
50% shares. 437 square km in the north and 1,184 square
The 264-square km concession in central km in the south-east, with SNOC holding the
Sharjah contains both the existing Sajaa gas and remainder.
condensate field and a known but unappraised According to information provided at the
deep gas discovery. auction’s outset, Eni will be required to drill at
Mahani was the first significant gas discov- least one well at Area A and acquire 600 km of
ery in Sharjah since 1983, with the Mahani-1 seismic at Area C during the initial exploration
well drilled to a total depth of 14,597 feet (5,000 period. The licences will run for 30 years.
metres) and test flows ran at a rate of 50mn cubic All three blocks lie in the proven Thrust Zone
feet (1.42mn cubic metres) per day of gas and play and were promoted by the authorities on the
associated condensate. basis that fields in the area had already yielded
In March 2020, SNOC said that produc- 142bn cubic metres of reserves.
tion at Mahani would be pushed back by two The pitch also trumpeted the purported ease
months because of the impact of the coronavi- of commercialising any discoveries by dint of
rus (COVID-19) pandemic thought this delay their potential connection to extensive exist-
ended up running to nine months. The compa- ing production and processing infrastructure,
nies eventually achieved first gas in January 2021 installed chiefly to serve the Sajaa field.™

Week 50 15•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11