The governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have revealed that Wafra Joint Operations has made an oil discovery in the North Wafra Wara-Burgan field.
The field is situated 5km north of the existing Wafra field. The Wara reservoir yielded crude oil at a rate exceeding 500 barrels per day (bpd), with an API gravity between 26 and 27 degrees.
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This discovery is the first since the resumption of production operations in the Partitioned Zone and its adjacent offshore area in mid-2020.
It is considered highly significant due to its potential positive impact on the exploration and production (E&P) capabilities of both countries.
In 2019, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement on oil production in the neutral zone that lies between the two nations.
This agreement is expected to potentially add an additional 500,000bpd to the market, according to a report by The National.
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By GlobalDataThe neutral zone is home to two major oilfields: the onshore Wafra field and the offshore Khafji field, which both restarted production in July 2020 after halting in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
The new discovery follows Aramco’s announcement last month of 14 newly discovered oil and natural gas fields and reservoirs.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, highlighted the discovery of six fields and two oil reservoirs, as well as two fields and four natural gas reservoirs, in the eastern region and the Empty Quarter.
He emphasised that these discoveries would bolster the country’s capacity to satisfy domestic and global energy demands for the foreseeable future.
In July last year, Kuwait announced the discovery of substantial quantities of oil and gas at the Al Nokhatha field, estimating approximately 2.1 billion barrels (bbbl) of light oil and 5.1 trillion standard cubic feet of gas.
The Kuwait Oil Company equated this to around 3.2bbbl of oil equivalent.
