Manora Oil Field

The Manora oil field is in the G1/48 concession, approximately 80km from the coast of Thailand. Image courtesy of Tap Oil.

The Manora field features a central production and processing platform. Image courtesy of Tap Oil.

The Manora platform is connected to a Floating Storage and Offtake vessel by a pipeline. Image courtesy of Tap Oil.

Processing and interpretation of the data from the Kra 3D seismic survey led to the discovery of the Manora field. Image courtesy of Tap Oil.

The Manora oil field is located in the G1/48 concession of the Gulf of Thailand. It lies in 44m of water approximately 80km from the coast of Thailand. First production from the field started in November 2014.

Mubadala Petroleum is the operator of the field and has a 60% interest in the offshore property. Tap Energy holds a 30% interest in the field, while Northern Gulf Petroleum holds the remaining 10% interest. The production is expected to reach a peak rate of 15,000 barrels of oil a day (bopd) in 2015.

The overall investment for the development of the field is expected to reach $300m. BNP Paribas provided a loan of $90m for the project in April 2014.

Discovery of the Thai oil field

The Manora field was discovered in November 2009 by the Manora-1 exploration well. The well flowed at the rate of more than 9,000bopd from three zones.

Oil reserves at Manora

The offshore field is estimated to hold 20 million barrels of oil (gross). Its commercial life is estimated to reach more than ten years, which is further expected to increase with subsea tie-backs from potential neighbouring discoveries.

Appraisal and exploration drilling at the Gulf of Thailand-based field

Two wells, Manora-2 and Manora-3, were drilled in 2010 to appraise the field. The wells successfully encountered hydrocarbons.

Pearl Energy (the former operator) began drilling of the Manora-4 well in October 2010. The well was directionally drilled to a measured depth of 3,475m by the Emerald Driller jack-up rig.

It was drilled to explore the area near the discoveries made by the Manora-1, 2 and 3 wells. The well did not encounter any oil, and was plugged and abandoned later. However, Manora-4 provided useful insights about the oil reservoirs.

Development of the Manora oil field

The development concept for the Manora oil field was finalised in October 2011 and the final investment decision (FID) was made in July 2012.

The concept includes production from a central production and processing platform. The platform is supported by a jacket, and features a wellhead platform with processing and water injection facilities.

The platform is connected to a leased floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel by a subsea pipeline. The FSO is moored with a catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) buoy.

The development plan includes drilling of ten production wells and five injection wells. Four wells have initially been drilled and as of November 2014, three of the wells are producing. The remaining wells are expected to be completed by early 2015. The drilling will be carried out using the Atwood rig.

Contractors involved with Manora oil field development

The procurement, construction and installation contract for the processing platform, pipelines and pipeline end manifold was awarded to SapuraKencana Petroleum. Clough was involved in the procurement of equipments, fabrication, transportation, installation and hook-up of the wellhead processing platform, and the supply of two 2km pipelines. The owner of the FSO is Omni Offshore Terminals (formerly Tanker Pacific Offshore Terminals).