On Jun. 25, 2007, prior to receiving ALNAFT'S approval, the SONATRACH / Gulf Keystone joint Management Committee for the 126a block unanimously approved the declaration of commerciality for the GKN and GKS fields.
SONATRACH and Gulf Keystone will work together to manage this field development. The field Development Plan envisages producing oil from the GKN-1 well (currently producing at approximately 1,200 bopd gross) and bringing the GKS-2 well on stream as soon as practicable.
As part of the Development Plan, SONATRACH and Gulf Keystone intend to build a pipeline to connect GKS-2 to the existing evacuation pipeline so that this well can begin production. The GKS-2 well produced at a rate equivalent to 4,586 bopd and 4.61 mmcfgd when it was tested in 2005.
The two fields will then be developed in a staged process through the acquisition of a 3-D seismic survey and a development drilling programme jointly conducted by SONATRACH and Gulf Keystone.
The plateau production rate is expected to be c3,000 gross bopd which is presently constrained by available facilities.
The GKN-GKS oil field is presently the only partnership project in development phase in northern Algeria.