Industrija nafte (INA), d.d. and Edison International have finally launched production on the North Adriatic Izabela gas field project, 60km off Pula, Croatia.
Total gas reserves are estimated at about 1.4 billion cu m (8.5MMboe), with production expected at about 280 million cu m/y (4.5MMboe/d.
Two production platforms, Izabela North and Izabela south, built by Italy's Rosetti Marino, were installed, in 37m water depth, and were ready to start production in 2010. In its 2012 annual report, INA said the delay to first production was due to "ongoing negations bewteen INA and Edison".
Today, INA said: "After completing negotiations between INA, Edison and Eni, the contracts that regulate reception, processing and shipping of gas through current transport systems were signed July 4, allowing production on this North-Adriatic field to be launched." According to Edison, five wells have been drilled and are online. Gas will be transported to Ivana A and Ivana K platforms, also located in North Adriatic, where it will be further processed and compressed, and then released to transmission systems towards Croatia and Italy.
INA and Edison formed a joint venture, called Edina, and signed a Production Sharing Agreement for Izabela (the Izabela Contract Area) in the early 2000s.
First production from Izabela follows the Croatian government launching its first offshore licensing round, due to close in November. A total of 29 blocks were made available ranging in size from 1000sq km to 1600sq km, in water depths predominantly under 300m, according to geoscience firm Spectrum.
Difficulties resolving key hydrocarbon play elements on legacy seismic data lead the Croatian Adriatic to represent an under explored hydrocarbon province, Spectrum says. The firm says its recent acquisition of regional, high-quality seismic data permits the hydrocarbon potential of the basin to be assessed for the first time.
"These data allow the imaging of deep, source rock-bearing basins, which inform basin modelling workflows," Spectrum says. "Multiple carbonate platforms can be imaged and accurately mapped leading to the identification of high poroperm play systems, particularly around platform carbonate margins. And finally, the surprising simplicity of the structuration in the basin can be defined by imaging the extensional, compressional and halokinetic tectonics, identifying large elegant plays and traps that have the potential for ‘big oil’ discoveries.
"These new insights into the hydrocarbon plays in this basin show that although the carbonate and clastic play systems are similar to those explored on the Italian margin, the asymmetry of the Adriatic caused by the timing of the opposing thrust systems and most importantly the increased halite presence below the Mesozoic carbonates in the east, indicate that the Croatian offshore has the superior hydrocarbon System. The availability of high-quality seismic data in this region will unlock the potential of this margin to imminently develop into a much more significant oil province in the next few years."
Under contract to the Ministry of the Economy in Croatia, Spectrum has acquired Multi-Client 2D seismic data offshore Croatia. This new survey covers about 14,700 km of long offset seismic data with a 5 km x 5 km grid.