By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 8 -- RAK Petroleum PCL has purchased a 10% interest in Block 8 in the Strait of Hormuz off Oman from a subsidiary of Heritage Oil Ltd. of the UK, bringing RAK's interest to 50%.
RAK operates Block 8, where it brought West Bukha field on production in February 2009 at 10,000 b/d of 42° gravity oil and 30 MMcfd of associated gas from two wells. The wells are on a six-slot, unmanned platform in 90 m of water 25 km off the Musandam Peninsula.
Discovered in 1976, West Bukha was believed to be a gas-condensate field and was abandoned as noncommercial.
Appraisal drilling by RAK Petroleum in 2006-08, including an extended horizontal section, demonstrated oil potential in the Mishriff-Maudud and Thamama reservoirs, said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, RAK Petroleum managing director and chairman of the executive committee.
A 12-in. multiphase flow line connects West Bukha to the nearby Bukha field production platform. Bukha field, also in Block 8, was developed in 1994 and can flow 10-15 MMcfd of nonassociated gas.
Output from both fields moves through a 16-in., 33-km multiphase flow line to shore for processing at the Khor Khwair plant in Ras Al Khaimah. Oil and condensate are slated for export, while gas is delivered to industrial and commercial users in Ras Al Khaimah.
LG International Corp., Seoul, holds the other 50% interest in Block 8.
RAK Petroleum, registered in Ras Al Khaiman's free trade zone, operates nine blocks in Oman and the UAE, of which six are in the exploration phase and two are undergoing appraisal for possible redevelopment.
