Abu Dhabi's Nasr Field, located offshore about 130 kilometres north-west of Abu Dhabi city, began producing oil on January 24, its operator said yesterday.
The field started producing at a rate of 6,000 barrels per day and is targeting 22,000 bpd production by the end of this year in its first phase of development, with the second phase bringing production up to 65,000 bpd by the end of 2018, according to Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company.
The Nasr field is part of Adma-Opco’s programme to add an extra 300,000 bpd capacity to Abu Dhabi’s overall production levels, which itself is part of the emirate’s broader strategy to raise production capacity from a current level of about 3 million bpd to 3.5 million bpd by 2017-18. Last October, Adma-Opco said the first oil began flowing from Umm Lulu, another of the major offshore field developments. It began flowing at a rate of 5,000 bpd and is expected to reach 22,000 bpd by the end of this year and its full field development rate of 105,000 bpd by 2018.
In November, Adma-Opco signed three major contracts worth US$3 billion for the second phase of Nasr’s development, with Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company, Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea and France’s Technip of France.
The Adma concession covers four shallow water offshore oilfields: Lower Zakum, Umm Shaif, Umm Lulu and Nasr. Adma-Opco is 60 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, with BP holding 14.67 per cent, Total 13.33 per cent and Japan Oil Development Company 12 per cent.
amcauley@thenational.ae
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