Yemen Production Operations

Dove Energy discovered, developed and now produces the Sharyoof Field with first oil achieved in December 2001 - an impressive 10 months from discovery to first oil. The principles of our design for the facility included technical simplicity, safety and environmental responsibility and have allowed production uptime of over 99.5%.

Dove performed a fast-track development of the Sharyoof Field allowing first production at year end 2001, just 10 months after project approval. A Central Processing Facility (CPF) was installed, connected via a new build pipeline to existing export infrastructure. This required the construction of a 65 Km new build export pipeline which was buried through an inhabited, cultivated wadi floor for 7 Km of its length.

The facility was originally designed to process 25,000 bopd simultaneously with up to 60,000 bwpd handling capacity. Plant capacity has since been upgraded progressively in stages to increase total produced fluid capacity to over 200,000 bfpd. The facility provides for oil and water separation vessels and storage tanks and includes water injection capacity enough to completely re-inject all produced water. Export oil is pumped through a dedicated pipeline to the gathering point at the Nexen operated Masila CPF. From there oil, comingled with other fields is piped to the Ash Shihr terminal in the Gulf of Aden for tanker loading.






The principles of design for the new facility included technical simplicity, safety and environmental responsibility, high uptime and low cost. Sound design and operation principles have allowed a production uptime of over 99.7% to be achieved. The facilities have been designed with ease of upgrade in mind and additional injection and gross fluid capacity equipment have been installed at low incremental cost and minimal disruption to ongoing operations. In 2006, a Crude Topping Unit (CTU) was installed to produce diesel for fuel from the Sharyoof crude. This project achieved pay-back in less than 6 months.

The project planning, management, procurement, construction and commissioning was carried out by Dove Energy in Yemen through a small team of high quality experienced engineers. Dove Energy have planned and executed the drilling of 39 exploration and development wells on Block 53. 

The Sharyoof Field is located in the Seiyun-Masila basin situated in the Wadi Hadramaut Governorate of the Republic of Yemen. The Sharyoof Field has an Oil in Place (OIP) of over 100 Million Stock Tank barrels. Dove Energy are focussing efforts on achieving a recovery factor of over 50 % through investment, workovers and prudent reservoir management. Sustained peak oil production was reached in 2003 with several notable production highs reached subsequently through infill drilling and facilities upgrades. Total production to date for the Sharyoof field is 40 million barrels.

Bayoot Production Operations

The discovery of the Bayoot field in early 2006 has led to the construction and installation of a completely new and dedicated facility at the Bayoot field. Located 8km south of Sharyoof, Bayoot produces from the deeper fractured basement formations. Although the wells require lift in the form of ESPs as do the Sharyoof wells, the fluid characteristics differ greatly. Bayoot produces lighter crude with a much higher gas oil ratio (GOR). As there is no gas handling capacity at Sharyoof, processing was required at Bayoot before this new crude could be comingled and exported for sale. Early wells were produced as a series of Extended Well Tests (EWT) using test separators with the gas being flared and the oil trucked to the Sharyoof CPF. 

Further discoveries were made throughout 2007 and 2008. Wells were still being tested through temporary facilities which constrained the overall field rates. Once sufficient production capacity was available to commit to investment, design and construction for the Bayoot CPF commenced. Once more a phased approach to facilities design was required due to the early appraisal status of Bayoot. Due to surface topography, wells were drilled from sub-optimal locations requiring well deviation to hit the reservoir target. This led to small clusters of wells or drilling pads accommodating the well heads. The Bayoot CPF forms a gathering station for all wells with a series of mutli-phase flowlines delivering crude oil and gas to the CPF. 

The remote location of the field has also required the construction of office and accommodation facilities in addition to the process plant. The major works were completed in the first half of 2009. Plant capacity is 10,000 b/d of oil and gas capacity is 15 mmscfd. Water production is minimal at present but capacity exists for up to 10,000 bwpd. Processed crude and treated gas are now exported to the Sharyoof CPF for export and fuel use respectively. A major overhaul of field generators has also been completed to allow the use of both diesel and gas for fuel. This in turn reduces the demand for diesel for power generation and reduces the amount of crude required by the CTU allowing more crude to be exported daily.