KUWAIT - Ratqa & Abdali - The Heavy/Sour Crude Project.

Eight local and international contractors have been prequalified to submit bids by June 12 for the $600-800m second phase of early production facilities (EPF) of a heavy/sour crude oil development programme. As with the first-phase EPF, which was awarded in early 2006 to the local Safwan Petroleum Technologies Co., it will be on a five-year build-operate basis.

The project covers production and processing of 120,000 b/d of wet sour crude from the northern Ratqa and Abdali fields, with a maximum water cut rate of 40%. It will also produce more than 80 MCF/d of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The work will include the design, installation and operation of a produced water treatment and effluent water disposal system, gas compression units, an amine treating and sweetening plant, and sulphur recovery and tail gas units. The work also covers a crude oil export pipeline connecting the EPF with GC 15, a gas pipeline connecting to BS 131, and all generation facilities to power the plant. Once the contract is complete, the facility can be totally dismantled.

EPFs are short-term projects generally aimed at bringing oil production on stream quickly while longer-term field developments are being drawn up. The first and second-phase EPF projects launched so far by KOC cover the Abdali, Ratqa, Rawdhatain and Sabriya fields, all of which are part of the delayed Project Kuwait upstream initiative (see omt23KuwtFieldsJun4-07 - see also the background to this in gmt22KwtFieldMay30-05).

Sabriya, found in 1956 by KOC, is Kuwait's third largest field, located between Rawdhatain and Bahra. It has had about 45 wells averaging 8,300 feet in depth. It went on stream in 1967, with recoverable reserves estimated at 4 bn barrels. This, too, was affected by Iraq's August 1990 invasion and the subsequent war. It was rehabilitated in 1992/93, with some of its installations totally rebuilt by early 1994. Oils of 28-32[degrees] API, with 2.5-3.4% sulphur, come from Mauddud, Burgan and Ratawi Fms of the Middle Cretaceous. KOC had also found light oil from a lower formation in the 1980s and upstream experts then said total reserves in place could be 13 bn barrels. The field's sustainable production capacity now is 90,000 b/d, dependent mainly on GC-23. The capacity of GC-23 is to be doubled to 165,000 b/d. Sabriya is to be redeveloped under an IBBC and its sustainable capacity for 20-25 years should be 200,000 b/d. This will be part of a programme for the northern fields.

In March 2007, KOC contracted SK Engineering of South Korea for a $625m job to build oil and gas GC at the Sabriya field. The GC will have the capacity to handle 165,000 b/d of crude oil and 240 MCF/d of gas and is scheduled to be completed in 42 months.

In mid-November 2000 KOC found a Marrat Fm of light oil beneath Sabriya and the well flowed at the rate of about 15,000 b/d. In mid-2002, KOC tested 6,000 b/d from a new well. It was then said the well had the potential of producing 15,000 b/d of oil and about 45 MCF/d of associated gas. Further drilling at the field was done by Schlumberger under a contract. In March 2006, KOC announced Kuwait's biggest non-associated gas find in the fields of Sabriya and Umm Niga put at 35 TCF. More finds of light oil and associated gas in the north were announced in April 2007 but the Energy Ministry did not provide details.

Bahra, found in 1956 by KOC (BP & Gulf Oil) north of Kuwait City, was originally thought to be a small field near the site of the first well ever drilled in Kuwait during the 1930s. The latter well was abandoned. Now the field has a few producing wells with a depth of 8,500 ft. Oil, mainly 30[degrees] API, comes from Mauddud limestone, and Burgan and Zubair sandstones of the Lower Cretaceous. The field went on stream in 1960. Its reserves were re-evaluated in the 1980s but development was delayed. Its remaining reserves in place have been put at more than 900m barrels.

Bahra's development in 1989 was to be undertaken jointly by KOC and Technoexport of the Soviet Union, with the latter to act as contractor, and drilling was to begin in early 1990. The choice of a Soviet company was made mainly for security reasons, in view of threats then from Saddam Hussein's Ba'thist regime in Iraq.

Ratqa: One of the causes of Saddam's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Ratqa is an extension of Iraq's Rumaila super-giant. Found in north-west Kuwait in 1978 by KOC (nationalised since late 1975), it was first thought to be a small structure. Earlier, British geologists said Rumaila's north-south trend might extend deep into the south.

In the early 1960s, the British authorities demarcated Kuwait's northerly border in areas disputed by Iraq. These included the Abdali oilfield to the east, which was discovered in the 1980s by KOC.

Rumaila in Iraq was found in 1953 by Basra Petroleum Co. after a seismic survey, following discovery of Zubair field in an adjacent area. Its long and anticlinal structure was then divided into two sections, South Rumaila and North Rumaila. Eventually, the field was established as a super-giant, with 35[degrees] oil coming from Lower Cretaceous Zubair sands and heavier oils from the Mishrif Fm of the Middle Cretaceous. The 80-km long structure extended about 3.6 km into Kuwait.

At Ratqa, KOC found the crescentic trend to have 18[degrees] oil in Lower Fars sand, of the Oligo-Miocene Ghar at shallow depths. In the early 1980s it was established that lower Fms of the Cretaceous were part of Rumaila. KOC drilled eight wells in the 1980s. Baghdad in 1990 claimed Kuwait was using the wells to "steal oil from Iraq".

After the war of February 1991, the UN drew a new border between Kuwait and Iraq. All Ratqa wells came within Kuwait. The field started up in January 1994 and its output now is averaging 15,000 b/d. The oil is piped to Rawdhatain's processing facilities and then on to the export system. In 1993, KOC was authorised to build a 40,000 b/d GC at the field, although work was delayed until mine clearance was completed.

Abdali, on the border with Iraq, is producing about 10,000 b/d piped to Rawdhatain. Under an IBBC, Bahra, Ratqa and Abdali should be developed for a sustainable 20/25-year capacity of 150,000 b/d, compared with 40,000 b/d at present.

KPC has said the foreign consortium to develop the northern fields should also fund construction of a crude oil export terminal on Bubiyan island, where they should have a town built to house employees working on their projects. They must train Kuwaitis. Development of the northern fields, raising their recoverable reserves and building all necessary facilities, will require a total of about $8.5 bn.