Drilling operations at an exploratory-appraisal well in the Belal Gas Field in the Persian Gulf started on Monday, the managing director of Petropars Company – the main contractor of the project, said.
“The well, expected to be 4,300 meters deep, is one of the eight wells planned to be drilled in the field,” Shamseddin Mousavi was also reported as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
An exploratory well is a deep test hole drilled by oil and gas exploration companies to locate the proven reserves of recoverable gas and oil, both onshore and offshore.
An appraisal well is drilled on the back of a commercial well to delineate the physical extent of the accumulation penetrated by the latter, and to estimate the accumulation reserves and the probable production rate.
Mousavi noted that the comprehensive program of the National Iranian Oil Company in the development plan of the Bilal Gas Field is to drill eight wells, including development, appraisal and exploratory wells.
According to the program, the drilling operations are expected to be completed within 44 months, he added.
Pars Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, has signed a $440-million contract with Petropars to develop the field.
The project will produce 14 million cubic meters per day of sour gas, which will be transferred to the offshore platform of Phase 12 of South Pars Gas Field and after processing will be piped to the phase’s onshore refinery via an undersea pipeline.
Petropars will drill the eight wells in the offshore field, launch wellhead jackets and build/install a topside as well as a 20-km seabed pipeline.
Belal, a joint gas field, straddles the maritime boundary between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf. It is located east of the giant South Pars, 90 km southwest of Lavan Island. The field is estimated to hold 170 billion cubic meters of gas in reserve and its proven gas condensate in place is more than 100 million barrels.
Petropars was founded in 1998 to contribute to the development of vast energy resources. It is one of the country's leading contractors of upstream oil and gas projects.
Last June, he NIOC took an operational step in using nanofluids in the implementation of enhanced oil recovery methods with nanofluid injection into the Surmeh reservoir of the Belal field, which operation is the first in the country aimed at increasing oil recovery.
After examining the feasibility of injecting nanofluids as one of the new methods to enhance oil recovery, the knowhow for producing suitable nanoemulsions was acquired to facilitate the oil recovery.
