Kuwait Energy
EL-12-211107
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The GDPSCs will run for 20 years, with a possible 5 year extension, the terms of which
would be subject to negotiation. In accordance with the GDPSCs, Preliminary
Development Plans (PDP) have been submitted and approved, comprising a plan for first
commercial production within 3 years as well as plans for exploration and appraisal. Final
Development Plans must be submitted within 6 months of the end of the appraisal
programmes.
In each field, the Contractor has rights to produce gas and condensate from “discovered”,
non-associated gas reservoirs, defined as all reservoirs that may exist within the contract
area above the base of a specified geological formation. The Contractor also has the
right to explore for “undiscovered” gas in deeper formations within the contract area, but
development of any such undiscovered gas would be subject to negotiation of a separate
contract. The Contractor has no rights to develop any oil reservoirs that may be present
in the contract area.
The GDPSC specifies a plateau production rate and the minimum period of production at
that rate. It requires the Contractor to achieve production of at least 25% of the plateau
rate no more than 3 years after the approval of the PDP, and 100% of the plateau rate
within 6 years of the effective date of the GDPSC. PDPs were approved in May, 2012 for
Mansuriya and July, 2012 for Siba.
There is a minimum work obligation in the first three years, to include acquisition,
processing and interpretation of 3D seismic data and exploration and appraisal drilling.
Further details of the contractor’s costs and remuneration are given in Section 7.
3.1
Siba Field
The Siba gas field is located in southeast Iraq, near the city of Basra (Figure 3.1). The
license area is bounded on the northeast by the Shatt al Arab River, which forms the
border with Iran. KE is the Operator with a 45% WI. The other partners are Türkiye
Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (TPAO), holding a 30% WI, and Missan Oil Company, an Iraqi
state company, holding the remaining 25%. The GDPSC has an effective date of 1
st
July,
2011.
The “discovered” reservoirs, which the Contractor has the right to develop, include all
non-associated gas reservoirs within the contract area and above the base of the
Yamama Formation, defined as 4,176 m ss (13,700 ft ss) in the Siba-1 well, and its lateral
equivalents.
The plateau production rate is fixed at 100 MMscfd of dry gas for a minimum period of
9 years. The minimum work obligation is US$25 MM within the first three years, to
include acquisition, processing and interpretation of 200 km
2
of 3D seismic over the
Contract Area, drilling of an appraisal well, drilling of a “deep” exploration well to the Khuff
Formation, and performance of detailed geological and reservoir engineering studies.
The Siba field lies in a prolific petroleum province, with many oil fields in the vicinity
including the super-giant Zubair and Rumaila fields. The field was discovered in 1969 by
the Siba-1 well (Figure 3.3). During short production tests, up to 7.27 MMscfd of gas and
1,080 bpd of condensate were produced from the Yamama C and D Formations at a
depth of about 13,100 ft (4,000 m). Oil was also discovered in the shallower Zubair
Formation, but the Contractor has no rights to any oil.
