Oman has signed exploration and production sharing agreements with foreign players for two onshore blocks in the Middle East sultanate.
Hungarian oil and gas group MOL was awarded Block 43, covering 15,232 square kilometres in north-eastern Oman. MOL said the block had well-developed infrastructure.
"Block 43 is in the proximity of the main pipeline and two refineries are located in the neighbourhood. The block's geological structure is in many respects similar to the Tal block in Pakistan where MOL performs a successful operation," the company said.
MOL said the planned exploration budget for its agreed two-year programme was $8 million to $10 million, with an option to invest an additional $14 million to $16 million.
"This new concession underlines our commitment to the Middle East, which is one of our core strategic growth regions. In this context we regard Oman as a bridgehead for further expansion in this region," said Zoltan Aldott, executive vice president responsible for MOL's E&P operations.
Meanwhile, Dubai-based Indago Petroleum has entered into an exploration and production sharing agreement for Block 43A, covering 2923 square kilometres near the Oman Mountains.
The concession's gas condensate prospectivity is consistent with Indago's regional exploration focus and it is on trend with a number of existing discoveries, including the multi-trillion cubic feet Sajaa field. An initial assessment of the block has identified two significant leads.
During the first three-year exploration term, Indago plans to re-process existing seismic, acquire new seismic over the most promising structures and spud an exploration well in 2008. The well is likely to target the same hydrocarbon-bearing formations that have been identified to the south, in blocks 30, 31 and 47, and in the adjacent northern United Arab Emirates.
"The comprehensive stratigraphic and structural interpretations we have carried out on our existing blocks pointed to Block 43A as having excellent potential for sizeable structures, which we believe are most likely to be gas-condensate bearing," Indago's exploration director John Hurst said.
© Upstream 2006
