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Petroleum Development Oman Approves 
Development of the Amal Fields

MUSCAT — The board of directors of Petroleum Development Oman, or PDO, has given the go-ahead for the full-scale development of the Amal East and West fields by means of steam-based enhanced oil recovery, or EOR, techniques.

Amal will thus become the site of the forth field-development project in the company’s EOR portfolio, which currently consists of a polymer-injection project at Marmul, a miscible-gas injection project at Harweel and a steam injection project at Qurn Alam.

“This is another milestone in the execution of our strategy for the long-term sustainability of the nation’s oil and gas production. That strategy is based on the application of appropriate technology and the development of capable people,” John Malcolm, PDO’s Managing Director, said.

PDO has been producing oil by conventional means since 1984 at Amal, which is in south Oman. But the oil is heavy, limiting the rate of production, as well as the percentage of the oil in place that can ultimately be recovered.

“The application of steam will enable the Amal oil to be produced more quickly and in greater volumes. The peak production rate from the two fields is expected to be three times the current production rate. Steam-injection trials to support the full field development have been ongoing at Amal since 2007,” Malcolm said.

Steam will be used in different ways in each field. In Amal West, the steam will drive oil from dedicated injection wells towards dedicated producing wells. At Amal East, which contains heavier oil, the steam injection and oil production will take place through the same wells.

The steam is first injected into the reservoir, allowing it to heat the oil around the wells, and then the hot oil and water are back-produced from the same well in a repeated cycle.

The field-development plan calls for a total of 300 new wells to be drilled over a 14-year period. Facilities ready to receive the ‘hot’ oil are planned to be in place by the end of 2012. A single steam-generation facility will be built for both fields.

“The co-generation of electricity and steam,” he added, “not only enables PDO to minimise the amount of additional gas needed for thermal EOR developments but also reduces its greenhouse-gas emissions. The Amal project is another good example of how we are making our business economically, environmentally and socially sustainable for the long term.”

ravindranath@khaleejtimes.com