BP has started up the second phase of its gas operations in Oman, with the launch of the Ghazeer project.
The company had expected to reach first gas at the field in 2021 but has brought the 0.5 billion cubic feet per day project on line four months ahead of schedule. BP approved Ghazeer in April 2018.
“This is another example of our business performing while transforming,” BP’s executive vice president of production and operations Gordon Birrell told Energy Voice. “This underpins our financial framework and is absolutely central to BP. The hydrocarbon business provides funding for low carbon business and is absolutely aligned with our net zero plans.”
The company started up the first phase, Khazzan, in September 2017. Total production from the two fields will rise to 1.5 bcf per day, with more than 65,000 barrels per day of associated condensate.
The two phases take place in Block 61, where BP estimates recoverable gas resources are 10.5 trillion cubic feet. This is enough, the company says, to deliver around 35% of Oman’s total gas demand.
BP drove the speed of delivery at Ghazeer through experience and technology honed at Khazzan, Birrell said. “We adopted a strategy at phase one that is not exactly the same but with a large amount of replication. We used capital efficiency and an experience team that was kept the same as phase one. The supply chain worked well.”
Eyes on the future
BP has made significant commitments to cutting carbon emissions, as part of which it has talked of reducing the amount of oil and gas it produces by 40% by 2030. At Ghazeer, the company employed green completion technology to reduce flaring.
“We’ve specifically piped all that production back into facilities. That gas is ultimately sold rather than flared. We’ve saved something like 201,000 tonnes of CO2” under this approach, Birrel said. “These are material changes we can make in pursuit of net zero.”
The executive noted the strength of the local Omani supply chain, which employed a significant number of Omani employees.
There have reports that BP is considering the sale of another 10% stake in its Omani projects. Petronas bought into the work in 2018 under a deal with the Oman Oil Co.
Birrell would not be drawn on how talks might be progressing. “In Oman, we have resilient and focused hydrocarbons. We will continue to operate and produce gas and condensate.”
BP has not ruled out further work in the state, though. Birrell noted the good relationship with the supply chain and the government. “It’s a country we have had success in and is core to our strategy.”
The company has also published a video on the start up of operations at Ghazeer.
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