14-04-04 Qatar Petroleum (QP) and the Danish giant Maersk Oil Qatar signed an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) for the 139 sq km offshore acreage designated as Block 5 extension area located Northwest of Al-Shaheen Field.
The Block 5 extension area is expected to produce about 21,000 bpd and to be operational by the end of 2005. As part of the agreement Maersk will undertake an extensive work programme, that includes conducting detailed geological, geophysical studies and drilling a number of wells.

Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, and President and CEO of Maersk Olie OG Gas, Kjeld Fjeldgaard, signed the EPSA at a ceremony attended by senior QP and Maersk officials.
Maersk Oil Qatar with a total investment of over $ 2 bn in Qatar, operates Al Shaheen Field Bock 5 under an EPSA with QP and continues to appraise the development potential of the Al-Shaheen Field. The minister said drilling was expected to begin as early as next month and, pending the results, fast track development will be carried out with all relevant operations and studies to be implemented with QP supervision.

"The success of Al-Shaheen field appraisal and production and the signing of the Block 5 Extension Area agreement are the results of high level co-operation between QP and Maersk", he said.
He said the expansion would be a cost effective fast track venture and more efficient because of the existing synergies, as all the facilities and services have already been implemented at Al-Shaheen.

He also noted that Al-Shaheen produces between 190,000 bpd to 200,000 bpd, while its output capacity reaches 240,000 bpd. Qatar, he said, has a proven offshore and onshore oil reserve of 5 bn barrels, but that a comprehensive survey currently being conducted may show an even higher oil reserve volume. He pointed out that Qatar’s production capacity rose from 350,000 bpd a few years ago to the current 850,000 bpd and efforts are being exerted to increase this capacity further in the future.
Maersk President and CEO, Kjeld Fjeldgaard said the firm will invest approximately $ 30 mm in the extension area, but that amount would increase, as the venture proves successful. He added that Maersk already has the seismic data, which only requires some fine tuning, and was expected to start drilling in less than a month.

The agreement is one of a series of EPSAs QP has signed with several international oil companies to explore and produce Qatar oil and gas resources.
These agreements have resulted in the discovery, appraisal, development and production of several fields such as Al-Khalij Field by Total E&P Qatar, Al-Shaheen Field by Maersk Oil Qatar, Idd Al-Shargi North Dome (ISND) and Idd Al-Shargi South Dome (ISSD) Fields by Occidental Petroleum of Qatar and Al-Rayyan Field by Anadarko Qatar Energy Company. QP is also allocating huge investments to prolong production from Dukhan onshore oil field and Maydan Mahzam and Bul Hanine offshore oil fields.