“Today we have just three wells, with plans to have 300, and this will be one of the largest projects, could be, in BP’s portfolio,” BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley told the World National Oil Companies Congress.
He, however, said high costs could scupper the project if BP is not able to agree a high enough price for the gas produced to compensate for these.
Mohammed bin Hamed Al-Rumhy, Oman’s Minister of Oil and Gas and chairman of Petroleum Development of Oman, said the gas would be sold to the local market, where prices are controlled.
Al-Rumhy said the $15 billion cost estimate reflected expected expenditure over 10-15 years. Dudley refused to confirm the estimate.
BP signed a concession in 2007 to develop the tight gas, which is in complex formations that are difficult to exploit.
Last month, Nasser Al-Jashmi, the undersecretary of the Oman oil and gas ministry said BP would start early production from the three test wells in August.
