Middle Eastern natural gas company, Dana Gas, started sales gas production from the Zora Gas Field, offshore UAE, on February 28, 2016.
According to Dana Gas, initial project startup was achieved on January 14, 2016 with early gas supplies being intermittent as the gas plant was being fully commissioned.
Subsequently, sales production was delayed due to urgent maintenance work on gas supply infrastructure at the customer’s receiving facilities.
The Zora Gas field is located in the Sharjah Western Offshore Concession, approximately 35 kilometers off the coasts of Sharjah and Ajman in the U.A.E. The Concession covers a total area of over 1000 km2 straddling the maritime waters of Sharjah and Ajman.
Dana Gas is the operator with a 100% interest, and will manage the field and the gas sales and purchase agreements.
The gas is being transported through a subsea pipeline to a newly built onshore gas processing facility constructed by Dana Gas and located in the Hamriyah Free zone in Sharjah.
The field is expected to achieve a flow rate of 40 million cubic feet a day (6,650 barrels of oil equivalent). Natural gas from the Zora field will be sold for use in power generation in the domestic market.
Dr Patrick Allman-Ward , CEO, Dana Gas, said: “ Zora is our first development project in the U.A.E, and as such, represents a significant milestone in the Company’s 10 year history. The project represents a considerable investment by Dana Gas and the resulting gas output will support clean, domestic power generation for Sharjah for years to come.”
He added: “Our exploration and development activities in the U.A.E. and in Egypt will provide a short to medium term boost to our overall production levels and thereby help to offset the decrease in revenue and profits resulting from the current low oil price environment.”