Abu Dhabi: Dubai Petroleum Establishment, (DPE) has said that it has identified significant volumes of gas in its T-02 deep gas exploration well.
The high pressure and high temperature T-02 well was drilled to 18,248 feet (5,562 metres) into the Pre Khuff formation and is the deepest well in Dubai to date, the company said in a statement.
“The well is in the offshore Fateh field where oil and gas was first discovered at depths of around 10,000 feet in 1996. While drilling in the Pre Khuff, formation gas flowed into the T-02 well bore on a number of occasions. Current indications are that the gas is largely methane with no H2S content,” the company said.
An earlier well, T-01, was drilled in to the Khuff formation in 1981 to a depth of 17,397 feet but test results indicated that significant levels of H2S and nitrogen were present which made gas production and treatment difficult and expensive in an offshore environment, the company said.
The new well has been wireline logged to evaluate the potential of the formations and there are some 390 feet of gas rich zones out of the 900 feet drilled and logged in the Pre Khuff.
The company added that the well is currently being suspended to allow for later re-entry, stimulation and long term production testing. Until the testing program has been completed, potential reserves and possible production rates cannot be estimated accurately.
“The planned production testing procedures require the use of specialist items and equipment that have long lead times of delivery.”
Currently DPE expects to have the test results in late summer 2015.
DPE is 100 per cent owned by the Government of Dubai and responsible for Dubai’s offshore oil and gas development and production.
An oil and gas expert said that the discovery of gas is a significant development.
“It is very exciting what they have discovered. Methane can be used in gas turbines in generating power and also to run taxis and trucks. Dubai can now have domestic supply of gas. They need not import it from outside,” said Tommy Amstrup Laursen, executive director of Ramboll oil and gas Middle East, an engineering consultancy based in Doha.
He said the new discovery will also support the economic development of Dubai.
Francisco Quintana, head of economic research at Asiya Investments, which has offices in Dubai and Kuwait said that Dubai is an energy importer, and it uses mostly gas to produce electricity.
“It has been importing LNG for a few years. If this well comes into production, it would help reducing the energy bill, but unless this proves to be a massive deposit, it is unlikely that this new source of gas will be able to change the long term trend,” he said.
He said natural gas prices are likely to stabilize or decrease in the next decade, given the abundant new supplies.
“That should reduce pressure on Dubai’s public finances.”
