«Heavy oil» burden or an investment with a feasibility ?!



2401 2016
The collapse of oil puts enormous challenges before the official start of production in 2016


Almost a year ago and it signed a Kuwait Oil Company, the largest contracts ever for the development of heavy oil with Petrofac worth 1.2 billion dinars for the production of 60 000 barrels per day by the year 2019 within the first phase, and then begin development operations to up production to approximately 270 thousand barrels per day of heavy oil after 2030.

In conjunction with the collapse of oil prices and decline to levels of less than $ 20 a barrel for the Kuwaiti oil, a lot of talk about the feasibility of heavy oil production, especially with the attainment of the cost of extracting a barrel to below $ 60 a barrel and more. In contrast, the low selling price of a barrel compared to light oil, which is What makes the project of a loser now.

And it started the idea of ​​heavy oil production in Kuwait in 2007 when oil prices were approaching $ 130 a barrel, a price has been rewarding for the production of heavy oil at the time, but what happens at the current stage of global market and lower prices cascade makes it continue in the implementation phases of the project decision must be good thinking and depth in it, where you must calculate the cost of the project in parallel with the price of a barrel extracted and the selling price in the market, a process that will decide the feasibility of the project until price stability and access to match the cost of production.

According to officials of the Kuwait Oil Company, the cost of extracting a barrel of heavy oil in Kuwait, ranging between $ 40 and $ 60 a barrel or less than that, as the company sees that the project is economically feasible, especially that the project is a strategic long-term can not be considered a low-cost current rating for project but every incident when the project was officially inaugurated at the end of 2018.

And on the latest developments in the project is currently one of the officials for «news» said the company has completed the drilling of 800 wells private project out of 943 wells, which means that the remaining 143 wells will be working on the excavated soon, noting that he has been drilling shallower wells horizontal using the normal drilling towers , heavy oil production rate of 1,500 barrels per day and is mixed with the ordinary for export of oil.

It said the main business that Petrofac will be implemented in the southern Ratqa to the lower reservoir Knight in northern Kuwait consist of assembling and installations Center steam pipeline to pump oil complex between oil producing wells.

© Al Anba 2016

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