Page 11 - MEOG Week 16 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Searcher to reprocess Oman

data as Muscat seeks explorers

OMAN AUSTRALIA’S Searcher announced this week take over five previously explored blocks carved
that it will acquire new seismic surveys and out of Petroleum Development Oman’s (PDO)
reprocess legacy seismic data across Oman as giant Block 6 concession.
part of a new collaboration with the Sultanate’s Block 23 is located to the east of Block 50,
Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM). The where Masirah Oil Ltd recently completed a five-
deal will consist of both 2-D and 3-D onshore well drilling campaign as it seeks to develop the
and offshore data and follows the recent closure Yumna oilfield. It was created by breaking down
of the country’s 2021 licensing round. the much larger Block 59 into Blocks 21, 22 and
Searcher said it has already begun repro- 23.
cessing legacy offshore data from the Sea of It also borders the 90,000-square km Block
Oman, which kicked off with the application 52 in which Italy’s Eni and Qatar Petroleum
of modern broadband processing and removal have been carrying out exploratory drilling, so
technologies. far without success.
The company believes that by improving the The 17,425-square km Block 38, also known
imaging of the offshore geology, it will be able to as Mudayy, is located in the far south-west of the
provide greater certainty about thrusts and fold Sultanate in Dhofar Governorate, along the bor-
belt plays and offer better insight into the stra- der with Yemen. The licence is currently listed
tigraphy below the decollement surface, which as ‘open’, although it was previously operated by
currently suggests the potential for significant Australian explorer Frontier Resources, which
oil resources. in September 2015 hired Moyes & Co. to help
The overall project covers 32,000 km of 2-D it find a farm-in partner. A few months later, the
and 2,500 square km of 3-D legacy data and company negotiated an extension to the first
Searcher expects to complete its reprocessing phase of the exploration and production-sharing
and acquisition of new 2-D and 3-D seismic by agreement (EPSA), but Frontier ceased report-
the end of 2023. ing on Block 38 in 2016 and exploration efforts
The award comes amid a renewed push for appear to have halted.
international investment focused on underex- Block 66 is located in the Rub’ Al-Khali basin
plored areas of Oman’s onshore and offshore in western Oman and lies along the border with
areas. Saudi Arabia. Hungary’s MOL, in which Oman
Speaking to Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG), Oil Co. owns 7.1%, signed an EPSA for the
Ian Simm, Owner & Principal Advisor at IGM 4,899-square km concession in 2013, estimating
Energy, said: “Oman has been a relatively attrac- reserves at 200mn barrels and drilling explora-
tive investment proposition for international tory wells between 2014 and 2017, again without
firms given the stability of the regime, favoura- success.
ble business conditions and comparative fiscal It had initially based optimism around Block
transparency. However, recent licensing efforts 66 partly on the presence of two producing
have had to contend with oil price concerns fields in neighbouring Block 7, known as Abu
and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, al Tabool. However, local operator Petrogas
as well as the country’s well-known geological allowed its EPSA for the block to expire in 2017
challenges.” with another Omani firm, Hydrocarbons Finder
In August 2021, the MEM began its 2021 (HCF) acquiring a new 15-year licence with the
Licensing Round, which ran until March 31 this medium-term aim of ramping up output from
year and comprised three hydrocarbon conces- the current level of around 970 bpd to 5,000 bpd
sions – offshore Block 23 and onshore Blocks 38 over five years.
and 66. Output from the Sahmah, Ramlat and Rija
The blocks are the first to have been adver- fields in Block 7 is currently below 1,000 bpd,
tised by Muscat since the 2019 licensing round, though HCF “is implementing a strategy to sig-
which took nearly two years to find parties to nificantly enhance oil production”.™

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