Belal gas field, often referred to as Balal or Bilal gas field, is being developed at a water depth of 70m, 90km southwest of Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf near Iran’s maritime border with Qatar.
The project is managed by Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), a subsidiary of the Iranian state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
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The $440m funding required to develop the project will be secured under the National Development Fund, which is Iran’s sovereign wealth fund.
Location and reserves
The Belal gas field is located 30km southeast of the producing South Pars field and 1km away from the producing Belal oil field.
The field is estimated to have about three trillion cubic feet (tcf) of initial gas in place in Kangan & Dalan sublayers and more than 100 million barrels of proven gas condensate in place.
Discovery details
The presence of gas reservoirs in the Belal field was confirmed in 2004 after the first gas exploration well was drilled by NIOC’s Exploration Directorate.
Belal gas field development details
The Belal gas field will be developed with the drilling of an appraisal-exploration well, a learning well, and six development wells. The development will target the main pay interval in the Arab-Hith formation.
The gas field will be installed with a wellhead platform as well as fibre optic cable.
The platform with four decks will be installed with a 2,300t topside and a 2,100t jacket. It is expected to produce 500 million cubic feet (Mcf) of sour gas and 15,000 barrels of gas condensate a day, which will be piped to South Pars gas refineries using a 23km-long, 20in-diameter offshore pipeline.
The produced gas is proposed to be processed at Platform C of Phase 12 of the South Pars field before being transported to the onshore refinery of the phase.
The delineation-exploration well located to the east of the South Pars gas field will have a depth of about 4,300m. It will be drilled up to the top of the reservoir layer.
Being undertaken by the Deepsea Treasure drilling rig, the drilling programme will include 700m of coring in the horizons of Kangan, Dalan, Zakin and Faraghan and conducting seven drill stem tests.
Drilling rig details
The Deepsea Treasure drilling rig is an independent leg cantilever type jack-up rig owned by Jagson Group. It is based on the Levingston Class III-C rig design.
The rig is designed with a maximum drilling depth of 21,000ft and operates at water depths of up to 300ft.
Contractors involved
The contract for the development of the field was awarded to Petropars, a subsidiary of the NIOC.
POGC signed a $440m deal with Petropars for the development of the Belal gas field in September 2019.
The contract for the drilling programme was awarded to Dana Kish Drilling Company, which operates the Deepsea Treasure drilling rig. Dana Kish Drilling Company is performing the drilling work under the management of Petropars.
Other developments in the Persian Gulf
NIOC announced the plan to resume development of phase 11 of the giant South Pars gas field in 2019 through a contract awarded to Petropars after CNPC, a petroleum company based in China, walked out of the project in the wake of the US sanctions on Iran.
The project is expected to start operations by the end of 2022.
Petropars also announced the completion of the fourth well in F9 Platform at the Forouzan oil field in April 2022. The well started flowing following the completion.
The Forouzan oil field is located 100km from Khark Island in the Persian Gulf near Iran’s maritime border with Saudi Arabia. The field operations are led by Petropars as part of a consortium with the Persian Gulf Mobin Sazeh Gostar, a subsidiary of Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex Co (ISOICO).
