Harvest Oman to Spud 1st Well in Block 64 in 2011

Harvest Oman BV plans to drill its first exploratory well in Block 64 early next year, marking the start of an energetic effort by the US-headquartered operator to appraise the hydrocarbon potential of its newly acquired concession.

According to Khalid H al Zadjali, General Manager of Harvest Oman BV (Oman Branch), two exploratory wells will be drilled during 2011, the first of which is planned to be spudded in the first quarter of the year.

Earlier, in a statement, the Houston-based firm said it expects to complete the reprocessing of seismic during the course of 2010 in preparation for the drilling of the first well scheduled to spud in 2011. The company has earmarked US$4.7 million in capital spending towards the project during 2010.

Harvest Natural Resources, an independent energy company with interests in a number of countries, acquired Block 64 as part of an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) concluded with the Omani government in April 2009.

Covering an area of 3,874 square kilometers, the concession – also called the Al Ghubar/Qarn Alam license – straddles the boundaries of the Dhakhiliya and Wusta regions. It was farmed out from the Block 6 concession operated by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).

Under the terms of the license agreement, Harvest will only target the block's non-associated gas and condensate potential.

The exploration and production of oil within the block remains the prerogative of PDO, which is continuing to produce oil from several fields within the concession.

The company, which set up an office in Muscat in October 2009, is committed to investing around US$30 million in exploration activities during the initial three-year exploration phase.

Current activities include compiling existing data, preparing for 3-D pre-stack depth migration reprocessing and initiating a baseline environmental survey, the company said.

To appraise the block's gas potential, Harvest will have to drill to depths in excess of 4,000 meters. Optimism in the block's hydrocarbon potential stems from its relative proximity to gas-rich producing fields in central Oman. Block 64 is located in the gas and condensate rich Ghaba Salt Basin, which adjoins the Barik, Saih Rawl and Saih Nihayda gas and condensate fields -- a major source of Oman's current natural gas output. - Oman Observer