BHP Billiton first gas from Ohanet in Algeria
Posted: 28 October 2003
BHP Billiton announced first gas production from the jointly operated
BHP Billiton / SONATRACH wet gas development at Ohanet in southern
Algeria on Monday 27 October 2003.
The new facility was commissioned on schedule and within the original
US$1 billion budget (US$464 million net to BHP Billiton).
The new processing facility will treat around 710 million standard
cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) of gas and produce a maximum of 30,000
barrels per day (bbl/d) of condensate and 26,000 bbl/d of Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG), together with a stream of dry pipeline sales
quality gas for SONATRACH.
Philip Aiken, President and CEO of BHP Billiton Petroleum, said:
“The delivery of the Ohanet development is another example
of BHP Billiton’s ability to deliver a complex project in
a challenging operating environment. By any measure – technical,
financial, or health & safety - the project is an outstanding
success and I applaud all those involved who participated in the
development for achieving this major milestone. We now look forward
to a safe and successful ramp-up to full production capacity over
the coming weeks.”
A total of 28 new wells have been drilled and completed and 15
existing wells re-completed to develop the 4 reservoirs forming
the development. A further 4 wells will be drilled after 3-4 years
of production history has been gathered.
“The Ohanet development represents our first commercial production
in Algeria,” added Mr Aiken. “With the completion of
the ROD Integrated Development next year we will have built an excellent
platform in Algeria on which we hope to build.”
BHP Billiton holds a 45 per cent equity interest in Ohanet with
other partners Japan Ohanet Oil & Gas Co., Ltd., 30 per cent;
Woodside Energy (Algeria) Pty. Ltd., 15 epr cent; and Petrofac Resources
(Ohanet) LLC, 10 per cent.
Background Information
In July 2000, BHP Billiton and its joint venture partners signed
a Risk Service Contract (RSC) with SONATRACH for the development
of four gas condensate reservoirs in the Ohanet region of Illizi
province, approximately 1300 km southeast of Algiers.
Under the terms of the RSC the total production from the fields
is the property of SONATRACH. The foreign participants in the venture
bear the total cost of developing the Ohanet reservoirs, and in
return recover their investment, together with an agreed fixed profit
margin from hydrocarbon liquids production, over a target eight
year period (from the start of production).
The monetary entitlement will be translated into volumes of condensate,
butane and propane that will be lifted from export ports on the
Algerian coast. These volumes will be determined based on prices
posted by SONATRACH.
Under the terms of the RSC, BHP Billiton and our joint venture
partners are not entitled to any of the pipeline sales gas or the
associated revenue. This gas will be utilised by SONATRACH to meet
its long term Mediterranean pipeline gas and LNG sales requirements.
A total of 28 new wells have been drilled and completed and 15
existing wells have been re-completed. Four further new wells (as
required under the RSC) have been deferred to allow three to four
years of production history to be gathered.
Over 150 kilometres of flowline connects the producing wells to
the Central Processing Facility.
The Ohanet sub-surface and drilling campaign involved 2 seismic
acquisition crews and 3 rigs operating in the field. Simultaneously,
the EPC (Engineer/Procure/ Construct) contractor supervised some
25 subcontractors erecting 4,500 tonnes of steel, pouring 13,000
m3 of concrete and installing 288 items of equipment. Furthermore,
all the materials for the development and everything to support
the people working at site (at peak more than 3000) were brought
in by road, a distance of some 1300km from the coast.
Examples of some key safety achievements and milestones achieved
are:
A total of some 20 million workhours have been expended on the
project with an overall Lost Time Incident (LTI) frequency rate
of 0.85 per million manhours – an excellent performance
given the remote location and the harsh working environment - Some 9 million workhours were completed by the construction
workforce without an LTI between October 2001 and November 2002
- Completion of the entire 424 day campaign of re-completions
of 15 old oil wells without a single LTI by the Algerian ENTP
workover rig
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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