Khalij Al Bahrain Basin: What is After the Discovery?

Abstract

In April 2018, Bahrain announced the discovery of a major unconventional oil field in Khalij Al Bahrain basin with an estimated 80 billion barrels oil in-place. The discovery came after drilling and testing an offshore unconventional horizontal well with multistage frac’ing. The well flowed light oil (API >40⁰) with good quantities of gas from Tuwaiq Mountain formation, a regionally established source rock. The results of the well proved the geological viability of Tuwaiq Mountain Unconventional Play in Khalij Al Bahrain basin, improved the sweet spot mapping and confirmed the continuity of the source rock across the basin. However, the nature and the location of the resource present a number of operational challenges which need to be addressed precisely and tackled by innovative approaches to properly appraise and subsequently develop the play. This presentation is an overview of the strategy to develop Khalij Al Bahrain basin considering all areas for optimisation including well design, drilling and completion, facilities and shallow offshore/onshore logistics. The adopted strategy aims to shorten the learning curve, achieve early production and improve the economics

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90333©2018 AAPG Middle East Region, Shale Gas Evolution Symposium, Manama, Bahrain, December 11-13, 2018