One of the rigs seen in Al Shaheen oil field.
Maersk Oil Qatar (MOQ), in partnership with Qatar Petroleum (QP), has for the past quarter of a century, safely and reliably operated Qatar’s largest offshore oil field, Al Shaheen, under an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) that expired at midnight on July 13, 2017.
Over 25 years, the partnership between MOQ and QP unlocked and transformed a field, considered non-viable by industry peers in 1992, through five major Field Development Plans involving the installation of 33 offshore platforms and drilling more than 350 wells, to a point where the field now produces 40 percent of Qatar’s oil.
For the past year, MOQ has operated the field achieving its best ever safety performance at a time of change and uncertainty while executing one of the industry’s largest ever transitions of operatorship to North Oil Company (NOC), a new Joint Venture between QP and French major Total, on July 14, 2017.
Lewis Affleck, Managing Director of Maersk Oil Qatar since 2010, said, “Al Shaheen is one of Qatar’s great assets, which over the past 25 years has demanded constant innovation, collaboration and expertise to overcome its complexities and build it into what it is today.
Implementing world class projects such as one of the world’s largest water floods, deploying record breaking long-horizontal well technology and building a diverse team of leading experts on Al Shaheen was what enabled us to create such value for all stakeholders involved.”
Maersk Oil’s focus on people development, along with its support of the Qatar National Vision 2030, over the past decades led to MOQ developing an award winning Qatarisation strategy.
The company also delivered an extensive social investment programme that is also expected to leave a significant legacy for the country and which supported the health, education and environmental sectors in Qatar.
Over the past year, Maersk Oil Qatar has also been undertaking a major handover to support North Oil Company in setting the foundations to operate the Al Shaheen field from July 14, 2017.
A dedicated Transition Organisation was established by MOQ in Q2 2016 to efficiently plan and manage the handover process which involved transferring millions of documents, undertaking thousands of hours of planning and work, as well as facilitating shadowing of existing roles in collaboration with NOC.
A seamless transition of people has also taken place which has seen around 90 percent of employees transfer from MOQ to NOC, enabling key knowledge and expertise to remain with the Al Shaheen field.
Lorenza Porciello, Transition Director at MOQ, commented, “The transition of Al Shaheen operations truly represented a unique challenge for all parties involved. This project is largely unprecedented within the global energy sector due to its scale, complexity and timeline for handover.”
“The transition has above all required a close collaboration between MOQ, NOC and QP to enable NOC to continue the future successful operatorship of Al Shaheen. Such undertaking would not have been possible without a robust project management structure, but above all it would not have been delivered without the collaboration and mutual respect and trust shown by all parties throughout the process”.
A small Maersk Oil organisation will remain in Qatar for the months following handover as the company concludes its obligations to partners, suppliers and contractors.
