Building on its success in contracting out the development of a cluster of small oil fields in the Nimr-Karim area to a specialised service provider, Petroleum Development Oman recently floated an internationally competitive tender for a service agreement to develop another such cluster of small oil fields.
The cluster, known as the Rima Satellite Cluster, is currently producing 2,100 barrels per day from nine fields. Another nine undeveloped fields are also included in the tender's scope. All in all, the area has about 650 million barrels of oil in place, of which some 27 million barrels PDO has already produced to date.
"These service contracts are aimed at raising the production levels of PDO's small fields in a cost-effective way, by granting the service provider a high degree of freedom in its operations and offering financial incentives to increase the production of oil," John Malcolm, Managing Director, said. "Meantime, PDO will dedicate its resources to the development of its larger fields, which account for 95% of its oil production."