The amendment to the Oman Block 61 exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) announced in 2016 was ratified , with the issue of a Royal Decree [no. 14/2017] on 19 March, 2017 by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.

The amended agreement extends the licence area of the block and enables further development of the gas reserves in the area.  Block 61 is located around 350km south west of Muscat, with the southern part of it known as the Khazzan field. The newly extended area, which adjoins Khazzan to the southwest, will henceforth be known as ‘Ghazeer’ (which means ‘copious’ in Arabic). It adds approximately 1,000km2 to the block, bringing the total Block 61 size to 3,950km2.

Ghazeer is forecast to deliver 0.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day by 2020.  With Khazzan due to deliver a billion cubic feet a day by the end of 2017, the two fields will together eventually increase Oman’s natural gas supply by around 40%. This will provide solid foundations for Oman to diversify its industrial base.

Field and well development plans are already underway at Ghazeer and the first development well has been drilled.  Around 3.5 trillion cubic feet of accessible gas are estimated to exist at Ghazeer and 125 wells will be drilled over the project lifetime to access it.

BP Oman President, Eng. Yousuf Al Ojaili comments: “The issuing of the Royal Decree is a momentous occasion for BP Oman as we continue the development of Block 61 with our partner, OOCEP.  We are on track to deliver Khazzan First Gas later this year and, in parallel to that, we will be driving ahead the field development of Ghazeer. Our knowledge and experience from the Khazzaan Field will help develop the Ghazeer field with the greatest efficiency.”

As the largest investor among the integrated oil companies in the Middle East & North Africa, BP brings a wealth of technical expertise in advanced seismic, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal well design. This deep technical knowledge is key to unlocking the vast reserves of tight gas which are contained in the deep, dense and extremely hard rock strata at Khazzan and Ghazeer.