Swedish based international oil and gas company Maha Energy says a pair of wells targeting the Mafraq heavy oilfield in Block 70 in central Oman has yielded positive results in the form of “strong oil shows”.
The Mafraq field – estimated to hold around 35 million barrels of recoverable oil – is the main hydrocarbon prize in Block 70, which Maha Energy acquired as part of the 2019-20 licensing round of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
In a statement, Maha Energy CEO Jonas Lindvall said production testing of the wells will commence as soon as transportation and processing agreements are finalised and approved by the Omani government.
Of a total of four horizontal production test wells that were planned for drilling in the Block in the current drilling phase, two pilot wells have since drilled over a total distance of 2.5 kilometres to date. A third horizontal production test well is being prepped for spudding.
Commenting on the progress achieved thus far in the delivery of the drilling programme, the CEO stated: “In Oman, two horizontal pilot production test wells have been successfully drilled and completed in preparation for extended production testing. Drilling results to date have been encouraging with strong oil shows during each well and good reservoir quality being penetrated. A total of 2,508 metres of oil bearing reservoir has been drilled so far. Work is ongoing to finalise offtake agreements, and these are expected to be complete by year end.”
In August, Maha Energy entered into an agreement with Mafraq Energy LLC for Maha to reduce the participating Interest in the Block 70 Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) from 100 per cent to 65 per cent. Maha continues to be the Operator of the Block.
