Project Profile
Location: on the border between Abu Dhabi and Qatar, UAE
Production: injection of 40 million cubic meters/day of gas
Start-up Year: 1975
The offshore Al Bunduq field, located on the border between Abu Dhabi and Qatar, has been in production since 1975. Oil has been extracted at the Al Bunduq filed from both the D and C zones of the Upper Jurassic Arab Formation occurring at a depth of approximately 8,400 ft (2,560 m) below sea level.
The Arab D Zone is the main reservoir of Al Bunduq. However, further drilling operations in the Arab C zone commenced in January 1984. Crude oil recovered from 28 production wells is transported by a 27 km pipeline to the Das terminal from the centre of the field. Al Bunduq’s crude bears a close resemblance to crude oil from the Zakum field. Hence, the two are blended and stored together in crude tanks on Das Island. This mix of crude is called “lower Zakum Crude”. Crude oil tankers load the Arab oil at Das and travel across the Indian Ocean to make their way to various oil refineries in Japan.
The injection project calls for the injection of 40 million cubic meters/day of gas into the Al Bunduq oil field to maintain pressure. The scope of work includes the installation of a new platform jacket, a deck, a bridge between the existing gas sweetening platform and the proposed deck and related facilities. Bunduq Company Limited’s objectives for the implementation of the project are to comply with the ‘policy of near zero flaring’ and to improve the reservoir performance by re-injection of the produced gas into the reservoir.
The composite single deck gas injection platform will be ‘bridge linked’ to an existing gas sweetening platform. The 1900-metric-tonne topside will house all the equipment, viz., the associated gas and acid gas compressor modules, glycol dehydration package, instrument air and nitrogen package, pedestal crane, switchgear and control rooms and other miscellaneous facilities for maintenance and operation of the plant and equipment. Bunduq Company Limited, a company incorporated in Abu Dhabi, is jointly held by United Petroleum Development Company (33.3%), BP Exploration (33.3%) and Total (33.3%). The field operator is United Petroleum Development Company, Japan.
The royalties of production are shared between the governments of Qatar and UAE. Qatar and UAE have representation in the company’s management through nominees from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Qatar Petroleum (QP).
Operators:
United Petroleum Development Company (UPD): Operator with 97% interest
BP Exploration: 3% interest
Bunduq Company Limited (responsible fort the injection project)
Shareholders of UPD include:
Japan’s JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration Corporation (45%)
Cosmo Oil Company (45%)
Mitsui Oil Exploration Company (10%).
Contractors:
Engineers India Limited (EIL): Contract to review and optimise the front end engineering and design for the project
Larsen & Toubro: US$52.5 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. (July, 2004)
Tebodin Consultants & Engineers: Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) services for WD-3 water disposal well project. A new 7.3 km subsea pipeline will be installed from the Gas Sweetening Platform (GSP) to the water disposal well platform WD-3. (September, 2013)