Anadarko inaugurates first oil production from Rayyan field

Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum formally inaugurated the first oil production from a new permanent production facility with a processing capacity of up to 45,000 bpd at Rayyan oil field, offshore Qatar.
Anadarko is the operator of this field with 92.5 % interest of contractor's share in the Exploration Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with the Government of Qatar. Preussag Energie holds the remaining 7.5 %. The Minister of Energy and Industry and Qatar Petroleum Chairman HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, along with a delegation from Anadarko and several guests from QP visited Al Morjan platform to inspect the new facilities.

Maritime Industrial Services constructed the Al Morjan (coral in Arabic) platform in Dubai and Sharjah in the UAE. The construction took 15 months and included the refurbishment of a 6-leg jack-up rig, fabrication and installation of new topsides, processing facilities and living quarters for 50 personnel.
Abdullah bin Hamad said he was delighted at the launch ofthe new facility that would increase the Al Rayyan oil field capacity and contribute to the country's economy. He said the exploitation of Al Rayyan oil field was launched only in the past few years with an initial production capacity of 12.000 bpd.

The new facility would increase the capacity of the field almost three-fold, which is very good for the country's oil production capacity and also an added-value to the country's economy, he said. "This shows that we are growing very fast and we are very proud to have this facility and joint production with Anadarko", he added.
Anadarko Executive Vice-President (exploitation and production) Bill Sullivan said: "This is an important first project Anadarko has completed successfully in Qatar." He said the company would continue to explore in nearby areas and possibly elsewhere in Qatar, as the company has successful stories of exploration for new fields.

The new facility is very important for the company as it meets its goals of increasing oil production from the field and continuing to grow, he said. "This year our focus will be completing this project and also doing a little bit more exploration drilling. It is difficult to quantify long-term, because it depends on our exploration success. If we can find more fields, then we will look forward to aggressively developing those with QP and enjoy making those investments", said Bill Sullivan.
The completed platform was towed to the Al Rayyan field and installed at its new location early in March this year and has enough processing capacity that would allow Anadarko to increase production from Al Rayyan field according to the agreement with QP.

Al Morjan replaces the Amina platform, which was installed as a temporary early production facility. In addition to the platform, the field has a permanently moored tanker, the Pacific Jewel with a capacity of 1.3 mm barrels that functions as a storage and offloading facility.
Anadarko is also active in exploration blocks offshore Qatar and has also a 49 % interest in Block 11. It plans to drill exploration and development wells in Block 12 and acquire new seismic data in Block 13. The company acquired its position in Qatar through the acquisition of Gulfstream Resources Canada in 2001. In June 2002, Anadarko purchased BP's 27.5 % interest in Blocks 12 and 13 and assumed operatorship on June, 2002.

Anadarko Petroleum is one of the world's largest independent oil and gas exploration and development companies. It is active in US, Canada, Algeria and Qatar and is executing strategic exploration programs in other countries.