Thursday, Oct 14, 2010
By Alex Delmar-Morgan
Of ZAWYA DOW JONES
DOHA (Zawya Dow Jones)--State-owned energy giant Qatar Petroleum plans to almost double crude output at its Bul Hanine offshore oil field to 100,000 barrels a day as the Gulf Arab state is moving ahead with plans to boost oil production, a company official said Wednesday.
Qatar Petroleum, or QP, operates two offshore oil fields--Bul Hanine and Maydan Mahzam--in the Persian Gulf that produce about 11% of the Gulf Arab state's crude oil output of about 800,000 barrels a day. Expansion plans for both fields are presently being studied, according to Qatar Petroleum Offshore Fields Operations Manager Mubarak Al Hajri.
"Currently there is an ongoing study to redevelop these two production stations and we are expecting positive results that hopefully will result in enhancing the oil production there and [extending] the life of these fields," Al Hajri said in an interview with Zawya Dow Jones Wednesday on the sidelines of an energy conference in Qatar's capital Doha.
While most offshore fields in Qatar are operated by joint-venture partners in the form of international oil companies, Bul Hanine and Maydan Mahzam are operated by QP only. Bul Hanine, discovered in 1970, is Qatar's largest offshore field and came on stream in 1972.
"Currently we produce 50,000 to 60,000 [barrels a day] at Bul Hanine and we are hoping that production will go to 90,000 or 100,000," Al Hajri said.
The oil company plans to extend the life of the Bul Hanine field until 2042, with the first increase in production expected in 2017. Results from a study looking into a possible ramp up of drilling at the Maydan reservoir, which currently produces around 30,000 barrels day, are expected by the end of the year, Al Hajri said.
Some 70% of Qatar's crude oil is produced from offshore fields. The tiny but gas-rich state pumped at a daily rate of around 793,000 barrels last month, according to official figures, making it one of the smallest members of the 12 countries that make up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Most of Qatar's hydrocarbon revenues come form the export of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, of which it is the largest producer in the world by far. Qatar has the world's third-largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran at about 900 trillion cubic feet, according to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy. The country's oil reserves stand at about 27 billion barrels, according to the BP data, the smallest among OPEC members in the Gulf region.
The next major maintenance shutdown at QP's two offshore fields could happen in 2013 for four to six weeks, Al Hajri said, adding that this was yet to be finalized.
"We have programs for shutdown," he said. "Sometimes we have a major shutdown which is requested by a maintenance requirement which sometimes takes four to six weeks, or it could be a mini shutdown for one to two weeks."
-By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +974 659 9818; alex.delmar-morgan@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
14-10-10 0915GMT
