In the last two years we have signed strategically important agreements with the United Arab Emirates, starting in 2018 with an asset acquisition campaign aimed at establishing our presence in the country. In particular, in Abu Dhabi we have acquired two 40-year concession agreements to take a 5% stake in the Lower Zakum oilfield and a 10% stake in the Umm Shaif and Nasr oil, condensate and gas fields in production in the country's offshore. The overall transaction was worth approximately $875m. In the same year, we were awarded a 40-year 25% stake in the Ghasha offshore concession, which includes the Hail, Ghasha, Dalma and other offshore fields located in the Al Dhafra region. Production start-up is planned for 2022. In January 2019, we won the operatorship with a 70% stake in Exploration Blocks 1 and 2 in the country's offshore sector. The first-phase commitment includes exploratory studies for Block 1 and the drilling of two exploratory wells and two appraisal wells in Block 2. In January of the same year, we also obtained three onshore exploration concessions in Sharjah: the operatorship and a 75% stake in areas A and C, and a 50% stake in area B. The first exploration phase commitment includes the drilling of a well and exploratory studies in areas A and B and exploratory studies in area C. Finally, in April 2019, we acquired an offshore exploratory concession in Ras al Khaimah, winning the operatorship in area A with a 90% stake.
Within the remit of our exploration work in the country, in January 2020 we announced our discovery, onshore in the emirate of Sharjah, of the exploratory well Mahani-1, home to gas and condensates. The production start-up from Mahani Field started in January 2021, achieved in less than two years from contract assignment and one year since discovery announcement. Production from the Mahani field is sent through a new multiphase trunk line to SNOC’s Sajaa Gas Plant where it is processed. Development activities, sanctioned with the final investment decision, provide the progressive ramp-up with the tie-back of two additional productive wells. Drilling activities were already planned.
In December 2020 we signed a Concession Agreement for the acquisition of a 70% stake in the Exploration Offshore Block 3, located in the north-west offshore of the Abu Dhabi Emirate. The block is the largest area to be awarded among those blocks that were offered for commercial bidding by ADNOC in May 2019 as part of Abu Dhabi’s second competitive block licensing round. Under the terms of the agreements, Eni will operate the concession to explore for oil and gas and appraise the existing discoveries in the block, which covers an area of approximately 11,660 square kilometers. The exploration phase of the agreement has a maximum period of up to 9 years. New state of the art 3D seismic data has already been acquired for a part of the block, which is in close proximity to existing large oil and gas producing and under development fields, in part participated by Eni, and that is estimated to have a promising potential. The near-field nature of the exploration targets will allow to exploit the synergies with the nearby existing infrastructure.
In April 2021, through its subsidiary Eni RAK, Eni has been awarded Block 7 located in the onshore of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.The presence of the existing gas processing facilities in the Emirate would also allow a rapid development of any discoveries. The block represents an underexplored acreage in a complex thrust belt geological setting, similar to that of the recent discovery of Mahani in the adjacent Sharjah Emirate. Production start-up was achieved from the Mahani field, just one year after Mahani 1 exploration well discovery and two years after signing the concession agreement. Development activities, sanctioned with the final investment decision, provide the progressive ramp-up with the tie-back of two additional productive wells.
In 2022 exploration activities yielded positive results in the operated Block 2 (Eni’s interest 70%) with the XF-002 well, in offshore Abu Dhabi. Drilling activities are ongoing, and upon completion expected in the second quarter of 2022 the size of the discovery will be evaluated.
