Al Nakhil Field Development, Phase II
The second phase of an onshore oil development: 38 new wells, a second processing train and a produced-water reinjection scheme that lifts the field from 26,000 to 45,000 barrels a day.
Under constructionDetail
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Karat Deep Gas Appraisal
Appraisal of a deep, high-pressure sour gas structure — three wells below 5,200 metres, extended well testing and a development concept study for a resource that may exceed 4 trillion cubic feet.
In development
At a glance
- Status
- In development
- Location
- Karat structure, North Caspian basin, Kazakhstan
- Period
- 2025 — 2029
- Our role
- Operator, 40% working interest
- Target depth
- 5,200 — 5,900 m
- Appraisal wells
- 3, first spudded March 2026
- Reservoir pressure
- 1,020 bar
- H2S content
- 6 — 9% (from discovery well)
- Resource estimate
- 2.8 — 4.4 Tcf (unrisked)
- Concept select
- 2029
About the asset
The Karat structure was drilled once, in 1991, and the well was abandoned at 5,050 metres after a gas kick that the rig of the day was not equipped to control. The log suite it left behind is thin, but it shows gas in a carbonate reservoir at pressures that put the structure among the more demanding in the basin.
Falaj took operatorship of the appraisal in 2025 with a 40% working interest. The first well spudded in March 2026 using managed-pressure drilling and a full sour-service casing programme; two more follow through 2027 and 2028.
Nothing about this project is decided. Appraisal exists to answer whether the resource is real, whether the sulphur can be handled at scale, and whether a development is worth sanctioning at all. Concept selection is scheduled for 2029, and abandoning the structure remains one of the outcomes on the table.
Scope of work
- Reprocessing of 1,900 km2 of 3D seismic with full-waveform inversion
- Three appraisal wells with managed-pressure drilling
- Extended well testing and downhole fluid sampling
- Sour-service metallurgy and materials selection study
- Development concept screening, including sulphur logistics
- Baseline environmental survey across the licence area
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