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MOGC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production (OOCEP), has recently taken over the operatorship of Block 8 from Norwegian energy firm DNO. Last week DNO handed over the block to the Ministry of Oil and Gas following the expiry of the 30-year-long license for exploration and production.
“Our strategy for this block is that we are going to conduct a full study this year to find out the potential of the block. After that we will form a five-year strategy for the development of the block,” Mahmoud Abdullah al Hashmi said last week while speaking to media-persons at a formal handover ceremony. Hashmi has been recently appointed as the managing director of MOGC.
He said, “In 2019, our focus will be mainly on a study that looks for quick wins to maintain production. And from 2020, we will start working with the Ministry of Oil and Gas on boosting the production.”
Speaking at the handover ceremony, H E Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, also said the biggest challenge ahead of MOGC is to arrest the decline in production from the block.
Output from Block 8 has been falling for the past few years. The combined production from two fields in the block touched a high of around 15,000 barrels per day in 2014, after that the output has been continuously declining. The production from Block 8, which contains Bukha and West Bukha fields off the Musandam peninsula, fell to an average of 4,458 barrels of oil equivalent per day last year.
It is for the first time that OOCEP is going to operate the offshore block through a subsidiary. Besides Block 8, OOCEP is operating Block 60 and Block 48, both are onshore blocks, said Hashmi.
OOCEP also operates block 52, which is also an offshore block, in partnership with Eni. The production from Block 52 has not started yet.
On international cooperation for Block 8, Hashmi said OOCEP is already working with Eni, which also has expertise in offshore exploration and production, and if needed help from Eni can be sought for this project also. Eni had recently announced that it is going to dig wells in Block 52, which lies in southern region of Oman and is spread over an area of 90,000sqkm.
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