September 2007
Columns
What's new in production
The Sultanate of Oman is blessed with oil, but much of that oil is heavy. Oman has experienced a drop in crude production over the past six years to 737,700 bopd in 2006 from 956,000 bopd in 2001. For the first five months of 2007, production continued dropping to an average 713,000 bopd. The average Omani well produces about 400 bopd. This situation creates a problem for the treasury, since some 40% of the country’s GDP comes from oil.
The government has acted and has put in motion several EOR projects to bring major heavy oil reserves into production. In 2005, Occidental Petroleum was granted a PSC to steam flood Mukhaizna field. Other fields being developed with EOR processes include Fahud, Harweel, Marmul and Qarn Alam.
Mukhaizna field covers more than 40 mi2 and holds reserves of over 2 billion bbl of original-oil-in-place.
