In 2009 BP was given up to four years to explore and evaluate the Risha natural gas field in eastern Jordan, near the border with Iraq, which covers an area of 7000 square kilometres. The study was expected to cost about $237 million and Jordan officials hope that it will lead to the discovery of extensive recoverable gas reserves which will help the country reduce its dependence on oil imports.
In order to achieve this goal of reducing national oil imports, the Risha field will need to produce about 330 million cubic feet of natural gas a day by 2015, up from the current low output of 18 million cubic feet.
BP announced that their exploration was "very successful" and that the seismic survey "was one of the largest ever acquired in the Middle East and one of the safest and highest-productivity surveys acquired in BP history."
BP are now ready to enter the second stage of development and start drilling, with the first well having already started last week, is and expected to take three to four months to complete.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More