Qatar Kicks Off North Field Expansion Drilling
Qatar Petroleum has started the development drilling campaign for the North Field East Project, or NFE (previously known as the North Field Expansion Project), it said April 15 in a statement.
The first of 80 NFE development wells was spudded on March 29. This phase of the North Field expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77mn metric tons/year to 110mn mt/yr. The second phase of the North Field LNG Expansion Project, called the North Field South Project (NFS), will further increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 110mn mt/yr to 126mn mt/yr.
Qatar Petroleum had earlier awarded a number of contracts for jack-up drilling rigs to be used to drill 80 development wells for the NFE. The installation of the first four offshore jackets in Qatari waters is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of this month, the company said.
The NFE project’s engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract for the jackets was awarded to McDermott in April 2019. McDermott was also awarded the front end engineering and design contract for the associated topsides and pipelines in May 2019.
The confirmed gas reserves of the North Field exceed 1.760 quadrillion ft3, in addition to more than 70bn barrels of condensates, and massive quantities of LPG, ethane, and helium, according to the company.