Crescent Petroleum

History

Crescent Petroleum has current operations in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and interests in Egypt through its affiliate Dana Gas. Crescent's growth is linked to its offshore discoveries in the Mubarek Field in 1972. The project brought both Crescent Petroleum and Sharjah into international recognition. Setting the world record at the time, Crescent Petroleum had the Mubarek Field in full production within 13 months of its discovery, at a rate of over 60,000 barrels per day.

Crescent Petroleum retains two exploration projects in the Emirate of Sharjah — the Sharjah Onshore Concession, which it holds since 2008, and an offshore concession in Sir Abu Nu'ayr, a salt piercement structure off the coast of Abu Dhabi.

Beyond its activities in the oil and gas sector, Crescent is also involved in social investment programs that support arts and culture in the Emirate of Sharjah. In particular, Crescent has been supporting the American University of Sharjah (AUS) from the early stages of its foundation.

Crescent Petroleum's first international venture outside of the UAE began in 1973, when it was granted the exploration rights for Block 1, an offshore area in present-day Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia). This was followed in 1981 by concessions for a 232 square kilometres (90 sq mi) block in the San Jorge Basin of Argentina. During the 1980s and 1990s, Crescent secured additional concessions in Canada, France, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Yemen. During the downturn in the energy sector in the 1990s, Crescent made the decision to divest from its international positions and refocus attention within the Middle East and North Africa region.

Crescent Petroleum's current major operations are in the UAE and in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, where along with its affiliate Dana Gas, it is the largest private investor in the local energy sector, having invested over USD 1.1 billion and producing over 9,350,000 cubic metres (330,000,000 cu ft) of gas and 14,000 barrels of condensate per day. It supplies power to the main cities of Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Previous operations

The first project handled by Crescent was the Mubarek Field off the coast of UAE. Within 13 months from the discovery, it was on full production at a rate of over 60,000 barrels of oil per day, with the drilling of three additional wells, the installation of the processing platform, an additional well-head platform, export loading terminal, and associated support structures and pipelines. This was a world record at the time for bringing an offshore field on-stream from oil discovery. Crescent Petroleum has also earned several operational world records including the deepest short radius horizontal section drilled, and the deepest slim hole to be cased by expandable casing. Since the start of production in 1974, the Mubarek Field has undergone several development phases. The initial phase of the development of Ilam/Mishrif oil reservoir, at a depth of 3,800 metres (12,470 ft) was completed in 1977. Development of the Thamama gas condensate reservoir, at a depth of 4,700 metres (15,420 ft), was started in 1987 for production of the gas and condensate. A central gas processing facility was established in the early 1990s, and gas export to Jebel Ali through a 150 kilometres (90 mi) offshore pipeline was constructed. In late 2005, the company commenced a program of drilling further infill wells to increase production of petroleum.

Crescent Petroleum also discovered the Zora Gas Field (currently owned and operated by Dana Gas) off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in 2001 and has drilled two horizontal wells which both tested positive for hydrocarbons.

The Gulf-South Asia Gas Project (GUSA) was a conceptual study launched by Crescent in 1991 and was the first workable project for producing, transmitting by pipeline and delivering natural gas from Qatar to Pakistan and eventually other parts of the South Asia.

Operations

Crescent Petroleum currently has operations in the following locations:

1. Khor Mor and Chemchemal Fields in Kurdistan in Iraq
2. Sharjah Onshore Concession, Sharjah UAE
3. Sir Abu Nu’ayr Concession, Sharjah UAE

Khor Mor and Chemchemal Fields

In 2007, Dana Gas entered into agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq for the appraisal and development of the Khor Mor and Chamchamal gas fields; two major gas fields in the region. Under the terms of the agreement, Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas were given exclusive rights to appraise, develop, process, market and sell petroleum from the substantial Khor Mor and Chemchemal blocks, and as a first phase to provide natural gas supplies to fuel two major domestic electric power generation plants being built in Erbil and Chamchamal, as well as for local industries and export.

Pearl Petroleum was founded in 2009 as the company assigned with the interests of its joint operators Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum. Later that year, OMV of Austria and MOL of Hungary, two major European energy companies, each became 10% shareholders in Pearl Petroleum. In 2015, RWE of Germany became the third member with a 10% share of the company. In 2015, German company RWEST acquired a 10% share in the company.

The project's implementation was completed within 15 months and involved upstream development, the construction of two Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plants and 180 kilometres (112 mi) of pipeline in challenging terrain. Gas deliveries to the Erbil Power Station commenced in October 2008. Pearl Petroleum's investment in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq's (KRI) gas project is one of the largest private sector investments in the KRI's oil and gas sector and provides electricity supply to over four million people in Iraq. Based on 2014 oil prices, it achieved over USD 3.4 billion of recurring annual savings in fuel costs for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from the migration from diesel-to-gas to fuel the power plants. The direct project benefits to the KRG arising from this migration from inception to 2014 is USD 15.9 billion. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of this switch at both power stations is valued at about USD 300 million per annum.

Sharjah Onshore Concession

In May 2010, Crescent Petroleum and the Russian government-owned oil company, Rosneft signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement to jointly develop material oil and gas opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa region. The following month, the two companies signed a Farmout agreement under Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies would jointly develop the Sharjah Onshore Concession, with Rosneft holding a 49% stake as participating interest. The two companies agreed to invest USD 60 million in initial exploration activities which includes the drilling of two oil wells to a depth of 4,500 metres (14,760 ft). The project aimed to benefit from existing infrastructure in Sharjah to produce condensates and natural gas liquids that could be consumed domestically and exported internationally. The agreement also included a budget for the development of local infrastructure while preserving the region's natural ecosystems and terrain. Since 2014, two wells have been drilled.

Sir Abu Nu'ayr Concession

The Island of Sir Abu Nu'ayr (SAN), which sits in the centre of the concession area, is part of the Emirate of Sharjah and is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) offshore of Abu Dhabi, in the middle of the prolific offshore oil territory. The acreage is flanked to the east by Dubai's Fateh oil field complex, to the north by the Sirri oil field of Iran and to the west by the oil and gas fields of Abu Dhabi.

Crescent Petroleum carried out successful a 2D seismic acquisition in 1999 in the field. A comprehensive 3D/2D survey design study was conducted during 2008 using Raytrace modelling for all target reservoirs and encompassing the island plus the entire 12 nautical miles concession area. A further study in 2009 developed the play concepts of the salt-related structures based on the available data. During 2012, an Airborne Gravity and Magnetic Survey was conducted over SAN and surrounding areas covering an area of some 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) to develop the exploration work programme.