AL-GAILANI, MOHAMMAD
GeoDesign Limited, PO Box 256, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7YW, UK

Abstract: The Development Plans of Nahr Umr Field for the New Millenium

Nahr Umr field was first delineated by gravity surveys in 1939-41 followed by seismic surveys in 1946-47 and drilled in 1948. Since then, over half a century has passed before any serious plans have been put into action to develop this super giant field. The field is located in southern Iraq, 15 km to the north of Basra and consists of a single anticlinal dome with its long axis extending over 40 km long by 25 km wide. The structural closure for the various pay zones varies with depth and ranges from 200 meters for the Dammam (Eocene) to about 800 meters for the Lower Cretaceous Yamama reservoir.

A total of 13 boreholes have been drilled so far which confirmed the presence of at least 8 pay zones ranging in age from Miocene to Lower Cretaceous with varying API gravity from 19 to 41 degrees. The present reserves in place for Nahr Umr is estimated at 20.7 Billion barrels of oil and 19,419,906.7 x 10⁹ cu ft of gas. In the early eighties, a 15-year plan was designed to develop this super giant field to produce a total of 437,833 bbl/d of oil from Yamama, Zubair and Mishrif reservoirs accompanied by some 1122.31 million cu ft per day of associated gas. However, till now this plan has never been implemented and it is more likely this field will be a major development project for the New Millenium.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas