Development of

Mansuriya
Gas Field

Prepared By
Wisam Al-Shalchi
Petroleum Expert

Amman - 2008
1- Introduction:
Mansuriya Gas Field is located in Diyala governorate at about 45
km north-east Ba’quba city. It is also located at about 100 km north-east
Baghdad and north-west of Hamrin Lake. The general conditions of the
field area are slightly hilly and partly covered with water. The field
occurs in block 45 within the exploration zones of intermediate oil
availability.

Figure (1): Location of Mansuriya gas field.

2- Structure of the Field:

Mansuriya gas field is located in the south-eastern part of Al-Fawli
geological structure which contains number of formations in a form of a
chain of hills comprising number of fields like Kor Mor, Khashm Al-
Ahmar, Mansuriya, Jaria Pica and gas dome in Naft-Khana.

a- Elongated asymmetrical anticline.

b- About 35 km long and (6-8) km wide.
c- With structural closure of about 70 km on top of Jeribe formation
(Eocene).
d- Jeribe formation is the main reservoir of the gas in Mansuriya field
but some gas is also contained within other formations like Al-Theban
and Al-Faris alasphal.
e- The two flanks are steep and affected by reverse faults.
f- The flanks dips are about 20˚ north-east and 13˚ south-east.
g- Average reservoir depth is 2000 m.

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 Figure (2): Geological map of the Iraqi north gas field.

3- Seismic Surveys and Drilling Activities:

Mansuriya gas field was covered by (2D) Seismic surveys during the
period (1975-1978). The survey was extended to detailed (2D) Seismic
survey during the period (1981-1987). During the period (1979-1990)
four wells (three of them were appraisal wells) were drilled as follows:

a- 1st Exploration well (Mansuriya-1) was drilled in (1979), and proved

the presence of Natural Gas in the tertiary carbonate reservoirs within
Jeribe and Al-Faris alasphal formations.
b- The wells (Mansuriya-2 and Mansuriya-3) proved that natural gas is
present within Jeribe, Al-Furat and Al-Serkanki formations.
c- Mansuriya-4 well was drilled within Jeribe formation but it produced
only water.
d- The potential gas capacity of the field was estimated to be 3.6 Tcf and
the recoverable capacity is 3.18 Tcf.
e- Mansuriya gas field can produce 300 MMscf/day of natural gas if 10
wells are drilled (8 producing wells + 2 evaluation wells).

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f- Within this capacity of gas production it is expected to produce also
2000-5000 bbl/day of condensates according to the evaluation results
obtained from Mansuriya-2 and Mansuriya-3 wells.

4- Gas Specifications:
According to the analysis made to the samples taken from the three
gas producing wells the following results were obtained:

Mansuriya-1 Mansuriya-2 Mansuriya-3

Test
mole% mole% mole%
C1 content 86.78 83.94 84.4
C2 Content 7.01 8.25 6.3
C3 Content 3.12 3.85 3.8
i-C4 Content 0.63 0.47 0.87
n-C4 Content 1.49 0.95 1.1
C5 content nil 0.5 0.54
Sulphur Content 0.4 1.712 0.879

Table (1): Gas compositions of Mansuriya field taken from the three
drilled wells.
The above results show high degree of inconsistency especially with
regarding the sulphur contents which means that it is necessary to make
new analysis to determine precisely the composition of the field gas.

5- Plans of development:
a- The primary conceptions to develop Mansuriya Gas Filed:
Since the evaluation of Mansuriya gas field was not complete, and the
reservoir information were inconsistent especially those concerning the
gas composition which suspected that crude oil might exists within the
field, the first plan to develop the field put by the Iraqi Reservoir
Directorate considered the following four options:
(1) Producing light free gas: According to the results of analyzing the
sample taken from Mansuriya-1 well it is clear that the production
phase within the reservoir up to the surface will be gaseous which
means that there will be no needing to separators or condensates
transporting.
(2) Producing heavy free gas: The results obtained from analyzing the
samples taken from the wells Mansuriya-2 and Mansuriya-3 showed
that condensates will be present within the production phase which

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 means that separators and condensates transporting will be needed.
Also a sweetening unit will be needed to separate H2S gas.
(3) Producing condensates only: This option is similar to the previous
option except that the production capacity will be higher and the
produced gas will be re-injected in the field.
(4) Producing crude oil & natural gas: If the presence of crude oil
within Mansuriya field is proved then it will be possible to produce
both crude oil and natural gas which means that two treatment plants
will be needed one to treat the natural gas and the second to treat the
crude oil.
The study considered the following options to benefit from the products:
• 200 MMscf/d of natural gas can be consumed by Anbar thermal
power station and 150 MMscf/d by Salah-Adin power station.
• Condensates can be transported to the Petrochemicals Project (2).
• Crude oil will be transported to the proper destination according to
its levels of production.
The study also recommended the followings:
• The field evaluation must be completed to determine exactly the
composition of the natural gas and the level of production.
• Drilling two more evaluation wells to determine whether crude oil
is present within the field or not.
• Using (4") pipeline to guarantee a gas production not less than 20
MMscf/d at the end of the reservoir lifetime.

b- Pre 2003 plans:

In March 1996 Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with Turkey to develop the north free gas fields and export the produced
natural gas to Turkey. This MOU was reconfirmed in other political
meetings held between the two parties in January and May 1997. The
cost of this project was estimated at that time to be around 2.8 B$ which
cover the cost of developing the gas fields and building 855 miles long
pipeline between north Iraq and Anatolia region in Turkey of maximum
350 Bscf/year capacity. The project also includes installing two
compression stations. The Iraqi natural gas fields which were planned to
be developed to feed the project were Anfal (1.8 Tcf), Chamchamal
(2.1 Tcf), Jaria Pica (0.9 Tcf), Khashm Al-Ahmar (1.4 Tcf) and
Mansuriya (3.3 Tcf).
The cost of developing the gas fields as well as building the pipeline
inside the Iraqi territories were estimated to be around 1.8 B$. The rest
of the amount which is about one billion dollars was allocated to cover

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 the cost of building the pipeline inside the Turkish territories. The
project planned to develop firstly Anfal and Mansuriya gas fields,
because the first was already a producing field and the second has
complete (2d) seismic surveys. As far as Mansuriya gas field was
concerned, the plane suggested the drilling of 17 wells in adition to the
already four drilled wells to produce 340 MMscf/d of a maximum drain
of 3.34%. Many companies like Gaz de France, BHP, Transcanada
Pipelines suggested investing in the Iraqi part of the project, while some
Turkish companies like TPAO, Tekfen, Botas supposed to invest in the
Turkish part. The Turkish Government could not start the work in this
project because of the sanctions which were imposed on Iraq by the
United Nations Organization. In February 2000 the Iraqi Ministry of Oil
announced that it has signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA)
with Agip and Gaz de France companies to develop the above gas
fields. But again due to the sanctions the agreement has never taken
place at the ground. After the war in 2003 all these agreements were
either canceled or reconsidered by the new government.

c- Post 2003 plans:

(1) In 2003 a team work of the Oil Exploration Company restudied
Mansuriya gas field and suggested the following recommendations:
• Implementing 3d seismic survey of the field to have more
information about the reservoir and a complete picture of its
fluids content.
• Making Mansuriya gas field the central treatment place for all
the neighboring gas and crude oil field.
• Transporting the gas produced from Mansuriya and the
neighboring field through one of the following options:
o Transporting the raw gas by a new pipeline to Baji for
treatment and then exporting it or for using it for local
consumption
o Transporting the treated gas to a point of connection with the
country gas pipeline between K2 - Baji.
• After making sure of the level of production the produced crude
• Oil can be disposed by one of the following two options.
o Pumping the crude oil by a new pipeline to Kirkuk.
o Pumping the crude oil to a point of connection with the Naft
Khana - Daura pipeline which transports the crude oil to
Daura refinery.

(2) A study prepared by Mitsubish/Inpex to develop Mansuriya gas

field was approved by the ministry of oil. This study suggested

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 building a treatment plant and power station in the field site. The
development plan supposed to be of the following three stages:
• Preparatory work & subsurface study.
• Preparing full field development plan.
• Integrated gas/oil utilization study for power generation and
others.
The treatment plant suggested by this plan should consist of the
following units:
• Inlet Separation.
• Condensate Stabilization.
• Acid Gas (H2S0 Removal unit.
• Gas Dew Point Control.
• Sulfur Recovery Unit.
• Tail Gas Cleanup.
• Thermal Oxidizer.

Figure (3): Treatment plant suggested by Mitsubishi/Inpex plan.

(3) In October 2004 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was

signed between the Ministry of Oil and Bechtel Company to develop
Mansuriya gas filed and build 200 MW electricity generating station.
The cost of the project (around 300 M$) was supposed to be funded
by the USAID. The company planned to develop the field by doing

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 new (3d) seismic survey, working over three of the existing gas wells
and drilling two more wells, one exploration well and one producing
well to produce 50 MMscf/d of natural gas. The company Prepared
to start the work actually by building a camp in the region and
mobilizing some of its equipments to the site, but in March 2005 the
American government decided to cancel the main budget allocated to
this project due to the progressive increasing in the security costs.
The decision has exempted an amount of 39 M$ to be spend only in
the upstream works, i.e. conducting the (3d) seismic survey, working
over three of the existing wells and drilling two more wells. The
execution of these works was transferred to the Iraqi Oil companies,
like North Oil Company (NOC), Oil Exploration Company (OEC)
and Iraq Drilling Company (IDC) instead of the foreign companies.
This new plan was aiming to prepare Mansuriya gas field to be ready
to feed any electricity generating station which might be built in the
future. The Ministry of Oil charged some of its companies (NOC,
IDC and OEC) to do the works, but laterally the whole project was
canceled after it was found that the allocated fund was too little to
cover the proposed works.
d- The new plans:
(1) In July 2005 the Ministry of Oil signed an agreement with the
Dutch Oil Company Shell to conduct a Gas Master Plan for Iraq. The
Ministry of Oil formed a technical team to help Shell in preparing the
plan. Phase (1) of the plan was completed by mid 2006, and a seminar
was done in August 2006 to present the results of the plan. The plan
gave a detailed picture of the future of natural gas investments in Iraq.
The plan has studied and estimated the country's needs to dry natural
gas and to liquefied natural gas (LPG) for the first quarter of the
present century. The needs according to the plan will go mainly to
operate the present and future electricity generating stations,
industrial factories and for home uses. The plan accordingly, has put a
detailed imaging of how the Iraqi natural gas (associated & non-
associated) can be invested to cover the domestic needs and to export
gas to other countries. This imaging focused specially on the
development of the free gas fields. It also included the building of
treatment plants and pipelines for transporting the natural gas (and its
products) inside and outside the country.
(2) According to the Gas Master Plan put by Shell, the Ministry of
Oil is concentrating now on the development of the Iraqi free natural
gas field to cover the local needs and to export part of the produced
gas to Europe. Shell Company has expressed its willingness to the
Iraqi government to invest in the development of the Iraqi natural gas

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 fields, especially the north gas fields (which Mansuriya field is one of
them) and the western gas fields (Akkas). During the past few years
the company opened serious talks with the Iraqi government to
develop these gas fields, but no decision was taken regarding this
issue. As far as the north gas fields are concerned, the company
intends to develop the fields firstly and then to set up a pipeline that
would connect theme to Europe via Turkey. Shell wants to run the
proposed new pipeline parallel to the existing oil pipeline from Iraq's
governorate Kirkuk to Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Recently the Ministry of Oil has put the development of Mansuriya
gas field through the Technical Services Contracts (TSC) which will
be signed between the Ministry of OIL and the international oil
companies.

Wisam Al-Shalchi*

*Wisam Al-Shalchi –Petroleum Expert, Email: wisamalshalchi@yahoo.com

References

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1- Development plan of Mansuriya Gas Field- Reservoir Directorate /
Ministry of Oil – Iraq.
2- Overview of the Oil Downstream Industry in Iraq / Nabiel N.
Lammoza / Ministry of Oil – Iraq.
2- The Real Image of the Gas Industry in Iraq/Ministry of Oil – Iraq
3- Minutes of meeting held between MoO & Bechtel Co.
4- Seminar of Iraq's Gas Master Plan - Directorate of Studies & Planning
& Follow-up / August 2006.

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