Occidental Oman (Oxy), the nation’s second largest oil producer after Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), has delivered its one-billionth barrel oil, marking a new high point of its 30-year-long operational history in the Sultanate. The production milestone was one of several highlights of the US-based independent energy firm’s operational performance in 2017.
“Occidental’s Oman operations reached a significant milestone in November 2017 with the production of its one billionth gross barrel of oil, including condensate, from all its blocks,” the company said. “Over two-thirds of this production has come in the last 10 years, illustrating the tremendous growth achieved over that period,” it added in a report issued during the annual media briefing hosted by the Ministry of Oil & Gas earlier this week.
Occidental Oman has investment interests and upstream activities in as many as five licenses (Blocks 9, 27, 62 and 30) distributed primarily in the northern part of the Sultanate, with one key license (Block 53) located in south-central Oman.
“Occidental Oman achieved substantial low cost savings across all areas of the business in response to market conditions and the low oil price environment. We have maintained activity levels and production compared to 2016 with a reduction of 5.6 per cent against planned expenditure,” the company said. Total production for 2016 was approximately 254,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
A key high point of the past year was Oxy’s 2017 Exploration Programme which resulted in 10 new discoveries. The most significant was the Aruma oil discovery in Block 53. The company also acquired more than 686 sq km of 3D wide-azimuth seismic data in Block 62, while starting shooting 1150 sq km of new 3D seismic data covering all of Block 53.
Further investments were made in Block 62 where a new gas plant was commissioned in the Maradi-Huraymah field in 2016. An addition three wells were hooked up in 2017, adding to the 18 production wells hooked up in 2016.
Also in 2017, Oxy added 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of new liquid handling capacity and 50,000 bpd of water injection capacity in Block 9 and 27. The company also signed a 15-year extension of its Exploration & Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) covering Block 9, as well as a new EPSA for Block 30 last year.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
