MUSCAT -- Ras al Khaimah-based RAK Petroleum aims to drill three more wells in the producing Bukha and West Bukha fields located within its Block 8 concession offshore Oman's Musandam Peninsula. The three development wells will be drilled over a yearlong timeframe through the summer of 2012, the oil and gas company said in a review of its second quarter performance.
Output from fields operated by RAK Petroleum in Block 8 averaged 8,664 barrels per day of oil and condensate, in addition to 31 million cubic feet of gas and 506 barrels of LPG during the quarter, the company stated. RAK Petroleum, which is headquartered in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, is the operator of Block 8 with a 50 per cent participating interest. South Korea's LG International Corporation holds the other 50 per cent share.
Block 8 is one of four concessions in RAK Petroleum's portfolio of assets onshore and offshore Oman. The company also has 100 per cent interest in the onshore Block 30 in central Oman, as well as the onshore Block 31 in the far west of the country. While Block 30 is under appraisal and development, Block 31 is still in the exploration phase. Rounding off RAK's oil and gas portfolio in the Sultanate is Block 47, an onshore concession also located in central Oman.
Under an agreement signed in August last year, RAK Petroleum farmed out 50 per cent of its interest in Block 47 to Spain's Repsol Exploracion while retaining operatorship of the Block. Appraisal activities under way in Block 47 are focused on the Zad prospect. The target is the Amin sandstone reservoir, similar to the Kauther field discovered by Petroleum Development Oman to the southeast of the Block.
Earlier this year, the company announced the completion of the drilling of the Zad-2 exploratory well after reaching a depth of 3,885 metres. The well confirmed the presence of a reservoir bearing hydrocarbons with a vertical closure of up to 200 metres. However, additional tests were proposed to evaluate the quality, size and commercial potential of this reservoir.
A recent re-frac of Zad-2 was deemed "inconclusive and required more study over the next several months", the company said.
Exploration activities targeting Block 31 also continued apace with the company announcing last month that it had spudded an exploratory well. Established in 2005, RAK Petroleum also holds interests in concessions in the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia, almost all of which are operated.
The company has also indirectly invested in producing properties in two other key areas of the Middle East, namely the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Yemen, via its associate company, Norwegian operator DNO International ASA.
© Oman Daily Observer 2011
