Maha Energy AB will delay drilling in Mafraq oil field in Oman after Global Business Services (GBS) failed to deliver the GBS-1 (formerly OGI-4) drilling rig due to technical difficulties uncovered during pre-mobilization inspections, Maha said in a release July 7. The original plan was to start drilling the first six wells on the onshore field at the end of June.
Maha is now evaluating alternative options, and a revised schedule will be announced as soon as further information is available.
Mafraq field, in Block 70, is a shallow, undeveloped, but delineated and tested heavy oil field onshore Oman. A previous operator tested 15,700 bbl of heavy oil from a single well over a 23 day well test period in 1991.
Block 70 lies in the middle of the oil producing Ghaba salt basin in central Oman. Mafraq field was discovered by Petroleum Development Oman in 1988.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).