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Monday, 08 September, 2008, 17:50 GMT | more prices >>

Cheleken acreage drilling helps Dragon scale new high



By Upstream staff 

Turkmenistan-focused independent Dragon Oil said its total crude output has hit a record of more than 40,000 barrels per day due to sustained development drilling in the offshore Cheleken concession, writes Nassir Shirkhani.

Production from the Caspian Sea field is now at a new peak of 40,038 bpd following the completion of the Lam A/123 well, which is producing at combinedinitial rates of 3284 bpd.

The jack-up drilling rig Iran Khazar has now moved to spud a further development well - Lam A/125 - with a target depth of 4390 meters.

“I am very pleased to report that we have delivered on our promise to achieve a production rate of 40,000 bpd by 2008,” said Dragon chairman Hussain Sultan. Sultan said Dragon, which is majority owned by the government of Dubai, was on track to further increase output from the Cheleken concession.

Meanwhile, the CIS-1 rig is now completing the Lam 22/124 development well. It will then drill three additional development wells as part of efforts to add to production.

Dragon has been increasing production from Cheleken in recent years because higher oil prices have encouraged investment in landlocked Turkmenistan.

Dragon swaps some of its output with Iran, which receives Turkmen oil for use in its northern provinces and then exports similar amounts from its Persian Gulf terminals on behalf of Dragon.

Cheleken is Dragon’s sole producing asset, with estimated recoverable proven and probable oil reserves of 651 million barrels of oil and condensate and 3.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Dragon recently farmed in to a number of exploration blocks in Yemen as part of a new strategy of expanding outside Turkmenistan.


Friday, 11 January, 2008, 09:46 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 11 January, 2008, 09:46 GMT

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