Maersk strikes Al-Shaheen drilling deal

Denmark's Maersk Oil has agreed a drilling field development plan as part of ongoing work on the $5bn Al-Shaheen oil field, with the aim of boosting capacity from 240,000 barrels-a-day (b/d) to 525,000 b/d by 2009 .

Maersk, which is developing the field under a production sharing agreement with Qatar Petroleum (QP), says it has struck a deal for the development of the offshore block 5 extension area which will allow drilling of up to six wells.

Oil production from the extension is expected to reach up to 6,000 b/d by early 2010. The overall lift in crude supplies from Al-Shaheen will see Qatar's oil supply reaching 1.1 million b/d by the end of 2009.

Discovered in the mid-1970s by operators drilling appraisal wells in the North field, Al-Shaheen was passed over for development until 1992, when Maersk signed its current deal with QP (MEED 24:2:06).