MUSCAT: Swedish energy firm Maha Energy AB has announced the signing of an agreement with Gulf Drilling LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MB Petroleum Services Worldwide, based in Muscat, for the drilling of a minimum of six wells, on Block 70, onshore Oman. The drilling rig, Gulf Drilling 109, is a 1,000 hp rig currently located in the Wilayat of Adam in the Sultanate of Oman. The rig will now be prepared for the campaign and expected mobilisation is in October 2022. The drilling programme will consist of a minimum of six wells on the Mafraq structure. 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 from two appraisal wells includes, but is not limited to, the Oil Water Contact (OWC), petrophysical and structural properties, and the identification of possible water disposal zones. Four horizontal pilot production test wells will also be drilled on the structure to ascertain oil productivity. These four wells will be completed with state-of-the-art PCP pumps from Canada and then placed on an extended flow test. Maha 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. The oil flows freely in the reservoir at 51° C and is expected to cold flow to surface in commercial quantities.
