Pakistan: OMV Moves Forward With Development Of Latif Gas Field

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OMV and its joint venture partners signed Thursday the development and production lease deed for Latif gas field located in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

OMV is the operator of Latif concession and holds a 33.34% interest. The other partners in the joint venture are Eni (33.33% interest) and PPL (33.33% interest).

The development will comprise of drilling of new wells and construction of a 50 km pipeline to transport Latif gas to the OMV operated Sawan gas plant where Latif gas will be processed and thereafter delivered to customers.

Latif gas field, OMV interest in Pakistan
Latif gas field, OMV interest in Pakistan

OMV is targeting a net production of 5,700 boe/d from Latif in 2014 thereby delivering on a key initiative under the group-wide performance program “energize OMV”.

The Latif gas field was discovered in 2007 in the Latif exploration license and started production under extended well testing arrangement in late 2008. It is located in the Sindh province, in the Middle Indus, a core area of OMV and next to the major OMV operated plants in Miano/Kadanwari and Sawan.

Latif field has been fully appraised with new 3D seismic and by drilling three appraisal wells. The field development will comprise of drilling and completion of new wells, wellhead compression, construction of a new raw gas pipeline to connect Latif field with Sawan processing plant, and the construction of reception and metering facilities at Sawan.

The total investment for the development amount to EUR 107 mn. It is planned to commence production from Latif field through Sawan plant in late 2013 with the aim to achieve a plateau production of around 18,000 boe/d.

Sawan is a state-of-the-art sour gas processing plant which was constructed, and has been operated by OMV since start-up in 2003. Sawan field’s own production is under natural decline which will provide processing capacity for Latif gas production in Sawan plant. Sawan field will also benefit from this arrangement due to cost sharing that enables extension of field production beyond the economic cut off associated with standalone production.

The Latif field development decision which had been stalled for some time was rendered economically feasible due to the new petroleum policy of Pakistan (notified on September 1, 2012). This policy provides higher prices for new discoveries and for investments leading to incremental production over and above the reserves approved and certified.

Jaap Huijskes, OMV Executive Board Member responsible for Exploration and Production said,  “This is a clear win-win situation. Pakistan receives the confirmed Latif gas reserves at a very low price; even the incremental production will be delivered at prices well below competitive fuels. Nevertheless the new pricing as per policy 2012 for incremental production provides OMV and joint venture partners with sufficient incentive to make new investments to prove and develop new reserves. On the basis of this new commercial agreement OMV will drill immediately four development wells instead of two that were committed in the field development plan”.

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