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 ALBANIA
Southern Europe
Around 80% of Albania’s oil production is heavy, derived
from 6 fields in the west of the country. The Patos Marinze field is the
largest with in-place reserves of approximately 1 Bn Bbls of 8º to 10º
API oil.
 It is the largest onshore oil field in Europe but
recoveries are low, averaging a total of around 2000 Bbls per day from a
large number of wells that produce less than 50 Bbls per day.
The first oil discovery in Albania was Drashovice in 1918
and then in 1928, Kucove and Patos. Production from the shallow Tertiary
sandstone reservoirs of Patos Marinze began in the 1930s but the
technology used was very basic with the only method used to increase
recovery being a very tight well spacing of less than 100m.
 In 1994 Anglo-Albanian Petroleum was set up by the
previous operator, the Albanian national company (Albpetrol), and
Premier Oil of the UK. A new development programme was proposed to
dismantle derricks, install new wellheads, electric PCP pumps and
storage tanks, replace and bury pipes, and build a new central
processing facility and pipeline connecting to an onshore storage
facility on the coast with an SBM system and tanker for export.
However,, although production was planned to increase
significantly, the programme was never fully actioned and only a small
increase in output for just a few years will be achieved.
The reservoir rocks of the other oil fields in Albania
are fractured basinal carbonates of Cretaceous and Eocene age similar to
those found in the southern Apennines of Italy. The source rocks are
most probably deepwater bituminous marls of Late Triassic and Early
Jurassic age.
The Gorisht-Kocul, Cakran-Mollaj and Ballsh-Hekal fields
have produced around 130 mm Bbls of oil with a wide range of gravities
but production has been very variable due to heterogeneous fracturing of
the reservoir.
The oil and gas sector in Albania is administered by the
Ministry of Industry and Energy under which the National Petroleum
Agency is responsible for oil and gas licensing activities. The Ministry
of Economy commercially supervises them.
The Albanian Petroleum Corporation (APC) is the parent to
Albpetrol, responsible for exploration and production, Armo, responsible
for refineries at Ballsh and Fier and Servcom, which supports Albpetrol
in development and drilling. Despite generally poor results from
exploration and exploitation programmes since Albania opened its doors,
limited exploration drilling is still proceeding in the country.
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