Offshore staff
ABU DHABI, UAE – ADNOC and its partners in the offshore Upper Zakum oilfield have awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to increase the production capacity to 1 MMb/d by 2024.
The partners are ExxonMobil Abu Dhabi Offshore Petroleum Co. Ltd. and INPEX Corp.
ADNOC says the scheme is integral to its target of raising its oil production capacity to 4 MMb/d by 2020 and to 5 MMb/d 2030.
Estimated cost is around $8 billion, including drilling-related expenditure. The program will also be designed to exploit synergies from the existing UZ750 project, with a view to optimizing costs and maximizing value.
The Upper Zakum development employs extended-reach drilling to optimize well numbers and to provide maximum reservoir contact. In recent years, the partners drilled one of the world’s longest wells at 35,800 ft (10,912 ft) MD.
In addition, the development is implementing synergies with the Lower Zakum Concession through shared multi-well pad drilling and streamlined rig.
A new round of extended-reach drilling is scheduled to start on the Lower Zakum Concession later this year from Upper Zakum’s Al Ghallan Island.
Artificial islands provide cost and environmental benefits in shallow water by enabling use of lower-cost land rigs instead of higher-cost offshore jackups.
05/07/2019
