Page 9 - MEOG Week 16 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Eni expands UAE presence with RAK award

UAE ITALY’S Eni this week announced that it had of Saleh, but development of the discovery was
been awarded an onshore concession by the adjudged by DNO to be commercially unviable.
RAK Petroleum Authority (RAKPA) expand- The involvement of the Italian major is a
ing the company’s already leading exploration considerable boon for the small emirate, which
acreage holding in the UAE. despite its proximity to oil-rich Abu Dhabi cur-
Eni will operate the 430-square km Block 7 rently produces neither oil nor gas.
taking a 90% participation in the exploration and In an official statement, the Milan-based firm
production sharing agreement (EPSA) while said that the concession “represents an underex-
state-owned RAK Gas will hold the minority plored acreage in a complex thrust belt geologi-
share. The agreement was signed between the cal setting, similar to that of the recent discovery
Fuad Krekshi, Chairman of Eni’s local subsidi- of Mahani in the adjacent Sharjah Emirate”.
ary and Nishant Dighe the CEO of the Ras Al Sharjah National Oil Corp. (SNOC) and Eni
Khaimah Petroleum Authority. announced the beginning of gas production at
HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Mem- Mahani in early January with the field discov-
ber of the Supreme Council of the UAE and ered a year earlier. Production will come from
Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah attended the signing the Mahani-1 well, which is located in Sharjah’s
ceremony. Area B for which a deal was signed in January
Following the award, Eni holds a gross explo- 2019 giving the firms a 50:50 split with SNOC
ration acreage of more than 26,000 square km the operator.
in the UAE, made up of eight exploration blocks The 264-square km concession in central
onshore and in shallow waters offshore across Sharjah contains both the existing Sajaa gas and
Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. This condensate field and a known but unappraised
is the largest of any IOC. deep gas discovery. Mahani is reported to be the
It said: “Eni is already present in the Emirate first gas discovery in Sharjah since 1983, with the
of Ras Al Khaimah operating Offshore Block A Mahani-1 well drilled to a total depth of 14,597
where, after an initial geological and geophysi- feet (5,000 metres) and test flows running at a
cal study period, preparations for drilling opera- rate of 50mn cubic feet (1.42mn cubic metres)
tions have started.” per day of gas and associated condensate.™
The latest agreement was signed two years
and a day after Eni was awarded the lead role in
the EPSA for the 2,412-square km block A con-
cession, also in a 90:10 collaboration with RAK
Gas.
This followed a largely unsuccessful 2018
licensing round, which partitioned the offshore
acreage offered into four blocks with a total area
of 2,521 square km and Eni’s licence seemingly
comprised a combination of the bulk of tnhe
maritime territory put out to tender.
Only one licence was apportioned following
the tender an EPSA with Poland’s state-owned
PNGiG for the 619-square km hybrid onshore/
offshore block 5. That agreement called for a
two-year exploration phase extendable by two
two-year periods, followed by a 30-year devel-
opment and production phase in the event of a
commercial discovery.
Neither the terms of Eni’s involvement nor
the inclusion or otherwise of the Cretaceous
Saleh gas and condensate field were disclosed but
the latter is assumed to be a key part of the pact.
The field was the emirate’s only producer
before an increasing water cut and decreasing
reservoir pressure prompted its closure in 2016
and relinquishment by the previous operator,
Norway’s DNO.
The only other find in the emirate is the
so-called RAK B light oil discovery, to the west

Week 16 21•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9