Petroceltic and Partners Agree on Declaration of Commerciality

Petroceltic International and its partners on Algeria’s Isarene PSC have agreed to a Formal Declaration of Commerciality in respect to the Ain Tsila natural gas field. Petroceltic is partnered with Enel and Sonatrach on the Isarene PSC. The Final Discovery Report, submitted in January 2012, along with the Declaration of Commerciality and supporting documentation will now be submitted to the Algerian Competent Authorities. Following their approval, the PSC parties will be granted a 30 year exploitation permit for the Ain Tsila field. 

 
The field was formally declared commercial on completion of an agreement for Sonatrach to market all of the produced gas from the Ain Tsila field, using a formula linked to Brent oil pricing. The PSC partners estimate the field to contain gross resources of 2.1 Tcf of sales gas, 67 million barrels of condensate, and 108 million barrels of LPG.

Petroceltic said that development work is expected to commence in 2014 and first gas is planned for Q3 2017. Initial production will come from an estimated 18 vertical wells produced through a new gas processing plant at an annual average wet gas plateau rate of 355 Mmcf/d. The plateau length is 14 years and an additional 106 development wells are estimated to be required during the period to maintain this production plateau.

Brian O’Cathain, chief executive of Petroceltic commented: “The declaration of commerciality on the Ain Tsila field is a major milestone for Petroceltic and our partners Sonatrach and Enel. This is a critical step towards formally recognizing the reserves on this substantial field and our asset team is now focusing on planning for the development phase of the project.”