The Belbazem offshore block, located approximately 120km north-west of Abu Dhabi in the UAE, is being developed by Al Yasat Petroleum Operations Company.
Al Yasat Petroleum is a joint venture (JV) of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), with the companies holding 60% and 40% of stake in the JV, respectively.
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The formations of the Belbazem block contain shallow-marine sedimentation of the Berriasian era. The first production from the field is expected in 2023.
Belbazem offshore block development details
The Belbazem block comprises three marginal oil fields, namely Belbazem, Umm Al Salsal and Umm Al Dholou. An offshore wellhead tower will be developed at each field, which will be connected to the Zirku Island terminal in the Persian Gulf, located approximately 60km away from Belbazem, via subsea pipelines and cables.
The development will also include the construction of greenfield facilities for water injection, gas compression, produced water treatment and associated utilities, along with brownfield development for tie-ins to the existing infrastructure at Zirku Island.
Production capacity of Belbazem project
The production capacity of Belbazem is expected to be 45,000 barrels a day (bpd) of light crude with approximately 35°API gravity and 27 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of associated gas.
The Belbazem offshore block development is part of ADNOC’s efforts to increase the oil production capacity from four million barrels per day by the end of 2020 to five million barrels per day by 2030.
Zirku Island terminal details
Located approximately 137km away from Abu Dhabi, the Zirku Island terminal is involved in the further processing, storage and export of crude oil from oil fields.
Zirku Terminal can accommodate export tankers with up to 420,000 deadweight tonnage (dwt) capacity at a nominal offloading rate of 83,000 barrels an hour. It has two single-point mooring (SPM) berths and can accommodate very large crude carrier (VLCC) class vessels.
The terminal has six storage tanks with a combined capacity of approximately six million barrels.
Contractors involved in the Belbazem offshore block development
A JV of UAE-based exploration and production firm National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and British oilfield services provider Petrofac was contracted to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for the Belbazem block development project in July 2019. The contractual scope includes the submission of a FEED package and providing a proposal for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the facilities.
Al Yasat Petroleum awarded an EPC contract worth $744m to NPCC for the full field development of the Belbazem offshore block in May 2021. Approximately 65% of the contract value is expected to reflow into the UAE’s economy to boost local economic growth.
The contract was awarded following a competitive tender process, which delivered approximately $190m in capital expenditure (CAPEX) savings through cost optimisation in FEED design.
Longdown EIC, a risk and insurance advisory company with locations in the UK and Canada, was selected to serve as a risk advisor for the Belbazem project.
Al Yasat Petroleum exploration and development details
Al Yasat Petroleum performs exploration and development activities in two concession areas, namely an offshore concession and a mixed shallow offshore and onshore concession.
The offshore concession area contains the Bu Haseer, Belbazem Block and Arzanah fields. The Bu Haseer oil and gas field began operations in March 2018 with an initial oil production of 8,000bpd, targeting the production of 15,000bpd after full-field development.
The mixed shallow offshore-onshore concession area in the south-west of Abu Dhabi includes the Nahaidiin, Bin Hadi and Gezira oil fields in the land zone and the Muhaymat and Sila fields in the water zone.
