Elf, Agip to hike Qatari field capacity

May 1, 2000
Qatari Minister of Energy & Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al Attiyah has approved a $200 million expansion plan for Al Khaleej offshore oil field.

Qatari Minister of Energy & Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al Attiyah has approved a $200 million expansion plan for Al Khaleej offshore oil field. The plan will double production capacity to 60,000 b/d, according to Elf Petroleum Qatar Managing Director Patrick Pouyanne.

Elf Qatar's parent TotalFinaElf SA has a 55% interest in the Qatari production-sharing agreement covering the field, and Agip SPA unit Agip International holds the remaining 45%.

Project details

Elf has already launched tenders for the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for Al-Khaleej and is expected to award the contract before summer. Work is to be completed by September 2001.

The partners plan to build two new production platforms and link them to the oil export terminal on Halul Island with a 45-km subsea pipeline.

Plans also call for the two companies to more than double oil processing facility capacity to 110,000 b/d. That is spurred, Elf said, by possible further development in the northern part of the field, which could increase production to as much as 80,000 b/d. The companies plan to drill an appraisal well in the northern part of the field this year; they say seismic studies in the field have identified promising prospects.

To conform with Qatar's production quota (under the pre-Apr. 1 production cutbacks accord), Al Khaleej is now producing only 22,000 b/d.