Oman's PDO achieves historic milestone with drilling of 1500th well at Nimr

Nimr is the company’s largest cluster, and boasts the most extensive well stock spread across 23 fields

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) celebrated the drilling of its 1,500th well at the Nimr cluster, the first achievement of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman.

The 1,500th well, referred to as NM-1500, is part of the Nimr cluster, located in the South of PDO’s concession area. Covering a total area of 1,875 km, Nimr is the company’s largest cluster, and boasts the most extensive well stock spread across 23 fields. It contributes more than 12% of PDO's production (around 90,000 barrels per day) and possesses one of the most substantial hydrocarbon growth portfolios.

PDO Managing Director Steve Phimister said: “This historic accomplishment of drilling the 1,500th well in the Nimr cluster underpins our long-term commitment to sustainable growth and maximising value to Oman’s economy. We are setting new benchmarks in the energy sector, safely and competitively growing our core business, in terms of both cost and carbon performance.”

“This achievement is the result of a great cross-functional effort within the organisation and we are immensely proud of everyone involved.” The journey to NM-1500 began 43 years ago when the discovery well, NM-1 was drilled in the Nimr-C area, with output starting a few years later following the commissioning of production facilities. The well is still yielding oil today.

Oil South Petroleum Manager Junaid Ghulam said: “NM-1500 symbolises the persistence, resolve, sustainability and superb reputation of our Company and its people to produce oil from the most challenging of sub-surface environments, consisting of heavy oil from complex classics with strong aquifers, for decades past and decades to come.”

In recent years, Nimr has evolved into an efficient well 'factory' delivering over 130 new wells a year. NM-1500 was operational just 15 hours after the rig move, a testament to the well-oiled machine that Nimr has become. This achievement was made possible through efficient management of operational issues and effective collaboration between various teams across the company.

Notably, the well NM-1000 was drilled in 2013 over a 23-day period in the complex and challenging Middle Gharif sandstone reservoir to a total depth of 2,100 metres and is now in production.

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