Swedish based international upstream energy firm Maha Energy has signed a Letter of Award (LOA) with Global Business Services (GBS) in Muscat for the drilling of a minimum of six wells on Block 70 onshore Oman.
The LOA precedes a drilling contract, which is expected to be finalised in the near future. The Drilling Rig, GBS-1 (formerly OGI-4) is a 1,000 hp super single top drive rig, built in 2010 and is currently located in the Sultanate of Oman.
The rig will be prepared for the campaign and expected mobilisation is in June 2022. The drilling programme will consist of two appraisal wells followed by four horizontal pilot production wells on the Mafraq structure.
Jonas Lindvall, CEO at Maha, commented: “We are very excited about working with GBS on this project. The GBS-1 rig is an ideal drilling rig for this project since it can move very quickly between well sites. We are also very excited about breaking ground on the Mafraq field and look forward with anticipation to the preliminary results of the pilot well tests.”
Immediate plans for the Mafraq oilfield include obtaining important reservoir information to assist in developing a full Field Development Plan. Information that will be acquired in the first two appraisal wells includes, but is not limited to, the Oil Water Contact (OWC), petrophysical properties, cores and identification of possible water disposal zones. After the two appraisal wells are drilled and completed, four horizontal pilot production wells will be drilled. These four wells will be completed with state-of-the-art PCP pumps from Canada and then placed on an extended well test to further ascertain oil productivity.
Maha Energy was successful in securing Block 70, which contains the Mafraq heavy oil discovery, in a 2019-2020 bid round. The Mafraq structure is a delineated heavy oil field that was extensively tested by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in 1988 and 1991. The field tested 15,700 barrels of 13° API oil over a period of 24 days using a Progressive Cavity Pump (PCP) from a single well.
According to the independent reserve auditor, Chapman Petroleum Engineering Ltd of Calgary, Canada, the Mafraq field may hold approximately 35 million barrels of recoverable oil (2C + 2P). The oil flows freely in the reservoir at 51° C and is expected to cold flow to surface in commercial quantities.
(Picture for illustration only)
