Announcing this here yesterday the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said the produced fluids from the offshore oilfields would be transported to Halul via Production Station-3 (PS-3) main oil line. He said the crude oil production at Al Karkara and A-North structure oilfields operated by Qatar Petroleum Development (QPD) would be stepped up to 10,000bpd in 2008 after completion of further field development. The total field development cost is around $167mn, al-Attiyah said. QPD, a subsidiary of the Japan-based Cosmo Oil Company, took over as operator of the Block 1SE comprising Al Karkara and A-North structure oilfields under a development and production sharing agreement (DPSA) with Government of Qatar in 1997. A key feature of the Al Karkara and A-North structure oilfields development programme is that it is a highly environment-friendly oil production project with no gas flaring. Gas produced during crude oil extraction will be re-injected into the formation to prevent flaring. This is in line with QPs pro- environment policy on gas disposal. The Second Deputy Premier said QPD had carried out appraisal activities in 1998 and 1999 and declared commercial discovery of oil. The disposal of associated gas has been the main challenge for development of these fields. The initial development phase resulted in the preparation of the Full Field Development Plan (FFDP) after extensive technical interaction between QP and QPD in 2003. Subsequently, a resolution was signed in September 2003 relating to approval of the Field Development Plan (FDP). The FDP comprises three stages of development. The first stage is to drill two development wells with production, water handling and gas injection facilities and pipe laying operations. The second and third phases will involve the drilling of two production wells and a water injection well. Al-Attiyah said, “the deal with QPD reflected QPs policy to comply with the guidance of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to increase Qatars hydrocarbon reserves base, oil production potential to diversify the national sources of income and firm up Qatari economy”. Recently, al-Attiyah said Qatar would be able to produce some 6mn bpd of oil equivalent by 2010 with its crude oil production alone accounting for 1mn bpd by the decade-end. Also, the North Field LNG production would scale up to 25bn cubic feet a day, equivalent to 5mn bpd by the same period. PIN/GULF TIMES