Falah

Location

The Falah Oil and Gas Field is situated offshore in the United Arab Emirates, approximately 160 km northwest of Dubai in the Arabian Gulf. The exact coordinates are 25.625, 54.21 (WGS 84).

Operator and Ownership

The field is operated and owned by Dubai Petroleum Establishment (100% ownership).

Discovery and Production

• The field was discovered on August 10, 1972.
• Production began in 1978.

Geology and Reservoirs

The field is part of a larger structural complex that includes the Fateh and Fateh Southwest fields. The primary reservoirs in the Falah field are carbonate formations, notably the Cretaceous Mishrif, Thamama, and Ilam formations. However, at Falah, the Mishrif reservoirs are not present over the crest of the structure due to erosion.

Production Details

• The field has been in production since 1978 and is part of a larger complex that includes Fateh, Fateh Southwest, and Rashid fields.
• The fields use secondary oil recovery methods, including seawater injection, which commenced on June 8, 1974.
• The oil wells produce using gas lift, with significant gas-lift capacity provided by compressor trains.

Field Facilities

The field facilities include numerous processing, compression, water injection, and wellhead platforms. There are 71 platforms in total, with 4 manned platforms, and over 317 miles of pipelines. Final separation and storage occur in submerged steel vessels called “Khazzans” and the Al Wasel floating storage unit.

Production and Reserves

• The Falah, Fateh, Rashid, and Southwest Fateh fields collectively have recovered 96.95% of their total recoverable reserves. Peak production was achieved in 1980, and based on economic assumptions, production is expected to continue until the field reaches its economic limit in 2038.
• The field currently accounts for approximately 1% of the UAE's daily oil output.

Current Operations and Future Plans

• Dubai Petroleum Establishment is actively working to optimize production from the field. This includes plans to debottleneck producing facilities, invest in electrical submersible pumps, multiphase pumps, new gas compression and export pumps, and additional separation facilities to enhance production capacity.
• There are also extensive field tests planned for optimizing production, particularly for high water-cut wells and gas lift operations.

CO2 Capture and EOR Project

Dubai Petroleum has been exploring the feasibility of a large-scale CO2 capture and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project, which could potentially be the world’s largest. This project aims to inject CO2 to extract more oil from mature fields, including those within the Falah complex.