Crescent Petroleum
Industry | Oil and gas |
---|---|
Founded | 1971 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Hamid Jafar (Group Chairman) Majid Jafar (Chief Executive Officer) Badr Jafar (President) |
Services | Oil and gas exploration, production, and transport |
Website | www.crescentpetroleum.com |
Crescent Petroleum is the first and largest private upstream oil and gas company in the Middle East. Founded in 1971, Crescent Petroleum is headquartered in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with current operations in both the UAE and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Crescent Petroleum is also the founding and largest shareholder in Dana Gas, the first and largest publicly listed private-sector natural gas company in the Middle East.[1][2]
The company is a subsidiary of Crescent Group, a diversified family business that includes Crescent Enterprises, a multinational conglomerate headquartered in the UAE, as the other subsidiary.
History
Crescent Petroleum's emergence is linked to its offshore discoveries in the Mubarek field in 1972. In 1969, the UAE government granted the Mubarek field to concessionaire Buttes Gas & Oil Co. International Inc., a subsidiary of Crescent Petroleum.[3]
Setting the world record at the time, Crescent Petroleum had the Mubarek field in full production within 13 months of its discovery, at a rate of over 60,000 barrels per day. The project brought Sharjah into international recognition.[4]
Crescent Petroleum's first international venture was in 1973, when it was granted the exploration rights for Block 1, an offshore area in present-day Montenegro, which was then part of Yugoslavia. It was followed in 1981 by concessions for a 232 square kilometres (90 sq mi) block in the San Jorge Basin of Argentina.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Crescent Petroleum secured additional concessions in Canada, France, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Yemen.[5] During the downturn in the energy sector in the 1990s, Crescent Petroleum made the decision to divest itself from its international positions and refocus attention on opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa region.
In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Crescent Petroleum and affiliate Dana Gas are the largest private energy investor, having invested over USD 1.32 billion and producing over 1,000 metric tonnes of LPG and 14,000 barrels of condensate per day. It supplies power to the major cities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.[6]
Previous operations
The first project handled by Crescent Petroleum was the Mubarek field off the coast of the UAE in 1972. Within 13 months from the discovery of the confirmation well in 1972, the field was on full production at a rate of over 60,000 barrels of oil per day, with the drilling of three additional wells, the installation of the processing platform, an additional wellhead platform, export loading terminal, pipelines, and associated support structures. This was a world record at the time for bringing an offshore field onstream from oil discovery.[6]
Crescent Petroleum has also earned several operational world records including the deepest short radius horizontal section drilled and the deepest slim hole to be cased by expandable casing.[7]
Since the start of production in 1974, the Mubarek field has undergone several development phases. In 1977, Crescent Petroleum completed the initial phase of the development of Ilam/Mishrif oil reservoir, at a depth of 4,700 metres (15,420 ft). The company commenced the development of the Thamama gas condensate reservoir at a depth of 4,700 metres (15,420 ft), in 1987 for the production of gas and condensate.[8]
In the early 1990s, Crescent Petroleum established a central gas processing facility in the field and constructed a 150 km (90 mi) offshore pipeline to export gas to Jebel Ali in Dubai.[9] In late 2005, it drilled further infill wells to increase petroleum production.[10]
In 1991, Crescent Petroleum launched the Gulf-South Asia Gas Project (GUSA), the first workable project for producing, transmitting by pipeline, and delivering natural gas from Qatar to Pakistan and eventually other locations across South Asia.[11][12] The company advanced the project to a state of pre-implementation maturity; however, the project was aborted due to political constraints.
In 2001, Crescent Petroleum discovered the Zora gas field—currently owned and operated by Dana Gas—off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and has drilled in it two horizontal wells that both tested positive for hydrocarbons.[13]
Current operations
Crescent Petroleum has current operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and interests in Egypt through its affiliate Dana Gas.
The company operates across the following locations:
- Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields in the KRI
- Sharjah onshore concession, Sharjah, UAE
- Sir Abu Nu’ayr concession, Sharjah, UAE
Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields
In April 2007, Dana Gas entered into agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government for the appraisal and development of two major gas fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Khor Mor and Chemchemal.[14] In October 2007, Dana Gas assigned 50% of its interest in the contract to Crescent Petroleum. Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum began operations on the fields as joint operators and have remained as such ever since. The terms of the contract grant exclusive rights to appraise, develop, market, and sell petroleum products from the substantial Khor Mor and Chemchemal gas fields, and to provide natural gas supplies to fuel two major domestic electric generation plants being built in Erbil and Chemchemal as well as for local industries and export.[15][16]
In February 2009, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum transferred their participating interests to Pearl Petroleum Company Limited, a joint venture company owned equally by Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum. Later that year, OMV of Austria and MOL of Hungary, two major European energy companies, each became 10% shareholders in Pearl Petroleum. In 2015, RWE of Germany became the third member with a 10% share of the company.[17]
The project was implemented 15 months following the signature of the agreement. It involved upstream development, the construction of two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants and 180 kilometres (112 mi) of pipeline in mountainous terrain. Gas deliveries to the Erbil power station commenced in October 2008.[18]
Pearl Petroleum's investment in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq's gas project is one of the largest private sector investments in the KRI's oil and gas sector and provides electricity supply to over four million people in Iraq. Based on 2016 oil prices, it achieved over USD 1.56 billion of recurring annual savings in fuel costs for the KRG from the migration from diesel to gas to fuel the power plants. The direct project benefits to the KRG arising from this migration from inception to 2016 is USD 19.7 billion. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions following the transition at both power plants is valued at about USD 300 million per annum.[19]
Pearl Petroleum currently produces over 83,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the KRI. The daily production includes 330 million cubic feet of gas per day and 13,000 barrels of condensate, with an LPG capacity of over 1,000 tonnes per day. Pearl Petroleum’s total cumulative production from 2008 to August 2017 was more than 214 million boe, including 875 bcf of gas, 37.5 million barrels of condensate and 1.15 million tonnes of LPG.[20]
Sharjah onshore concession
In May 2010, Crescent Petroleum and the Russian government-owned oil company, Rosneft signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop material oil and gas opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa region.[21]
The following month, the two companies signed a farmout agreement in the presence of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies would jointly develop the Sharjah onshore concession, with Rosneft holding a 49% stake as participating interest.[22] The two companies agreed to invest nearly USD 60 million in initial exploration activities, including the drilling of two oil wells to a depth of 4,500 metres (14,760 ft).[22] The project aimed to produce condensates and natural gas liquids that could be consumed domestically and exported internationally. The agreement also included the responsible development of local infrastructure.[21]
Since 2014, two wells have been drilled.[22] The concession was relinquished in February 2016.
Sir Abu Nu'ayr concession
The island of Sir Abu Nu'ayr (SAN), located at the centre of the 12 nautical miles concession area, is part of the Emirate of Sharjah and is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) offshore of Abu Dhabi, in the middle of the offshore oil territory. The acreage is flanked to the east by Dubai's Fateh oil field complex, to the north by the Sirri oil field of Iran and to the west by the oil and gas fields of Abu Dhabi.[23]
Crescent Petroleum carried out successful a 2D seismic acquisition in 1999 in the field. It followed it in 2008 by a comprehensive 3D/2D survey design study that used Raytrace modelling and included all target reservoirs across the island and the entire concession area.
A further study in 2009 developed the play concepts of the salt-related structures based on available data. In 2012, Crescent Petroleum conducted an Airborne Gravity and Magnetic Survey over SAN and it surrounds, covering an area of 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi), to develop the exploration work programme.
Corporate citizenship
Beyond its activities in the oil and gas sector, Crescent Petroleum invests in healthcare and education across the UAE and Iraq.
In 2015, Crescent Petroleum partnered with Edraak, the Arabic language online learning platform initiated by the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development, to deliver a series of three English language courses to thousands of learners across the Middle East and North Africa.[24]
In 2017, Crescent Petroleum joined forces with the AMAR Foundation, a charity that supports vulnerable populations in the Middle East, to extend life-saving healthcare services and vocational training to over 17,000 internally displaced people at the Khanke camp in Duhok, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.[25]
See also
References
- ^ "World Economic Forum/Organisations". 24 Jan 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-05.
- ^ "DANA GAS IPO opens tomorrow". WAM. Emirates News Agency. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ "Offshore Field Development Projects Mubarek". SubSealQ. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "About Sharjah". Departments of Seaports and Customs. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "About Us". Crescent Petroleum. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ a b "Expertise". Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ "Crescent completes drilling programme in Mubarak field". Gulf News. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ "The Mubarek Field". Crescent Petroleum. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ "APS Review Gas Market Trends". APS Review Gas Market Trends. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ "Sky Petroleum's Mubarek Field Drilling Passes 2,200 Feet". The America's Intelligence Wire. 9 February 2006.
- ^ "Crescent Rising". Arabian Oil and Gas. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ Mustafa, Khalid (February 13, 2005). "$3.2b Gulf-South Asia Pipeline project: Qatar minister arrives Tuesday, will discuss gas pipeline". Daily Times. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
- ^ Carlisle, Tamsin (January 27, 2009). "Dana to seek gas offshore Sharjah". The National. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- ^ "Kurdistan Gas Project". Kurdistan Gas Project. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
- ^ "Khor Mor production reaches 80,000 barrels per day". Oil Review. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- ^ "Dana Gas, Crescent Petroleum restore Kurdish LPG". Arabian Industry. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- ^ "MOL and OMV Join Dana Gas and Crescent in Kurdistan Region of Iraq". OilVoice. 17 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- ^ "Dana Gas, Crescent Petroleum restore Kurdish LPG". Arabian Oil and Gas. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum Gas Project in Kurdistan Region of Iraq Socio Economic Benefits Report (PDF). PwC. 2015. p. 92. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
- ^ "Sustainability Report 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ a b "Crescent Petroleum and Rosneft in major cooperation deal". Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ a b c Carlisle, Tasmin. "Crescent and Rosneft in Sharjah gas venture". The national. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- ^ "Form 10-Q for Sky Petroleum, Inc". Yahoo. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
- ^ "Crescent Petroleum, the British Council and Edraak Launch Series of Free Online English Courses for Arabic Speakers". Aetoswire. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Cole, Robert. "CRESCENT PETROLEUM AND DANA GAS SUPPORT HEALTHCARE CENTRE FOR IDPS". Amar Foundation. Retrieved 21 October 2017.