“The reserve is at 6002 feet deep in the earth. Reserves have been affected after very difficult exploration and a massive investment made due to repeated probe fractures as a result of geology formation.

Still no mention of water under the reserve, which suggests that the reserve's size may be even bigger. We can't talk about concrete numbers.

Information at this stage is not self - confidence, but without taking the result of the final test that determines whether the extraction of this wealth is financially reasonable”, the prime minister said.

Rama warned of major benefits for the country and the creation of a sovereign fund, an investment fund that some of its revenues decide to multiply on the international market.

“Monitor” spoke with an experienced oil-field engineer who explained in detail how the process works, how convenient it is to extract oil from a difficult terrain, how much the benefits can be, and when they can be obtained.

Is There Oil?

Experts explain that from an engineering point of view, Berat is a complex and previously researched source, since the time of communism, seismic experiments and studies have been conducted and estimated to have pure oil, but there are high costs of extraction.

But it is still not known what the real potential of the reserves and production of oil in Shpirag is, since only when passed into the testing phase will it be known what it really is. Currently, the process is in an exploration phase and this phase ends the day when wells enter into production, not testing. A well in testing is not a well in production.

Prime Minister Rama said in public release that the test will start in October and the results are based on following the sustainability of the influx that surfaces.

The companies, as soon as the exploration phase is completed and the reservoirs are spotted, begin massively with the drilling of wells. If Shell finds out the location could lead to 5 or 6 probes. It will be the test that will tell you everything. Engineers explain that even after this test they have to make another drilling before the correct conclusions are made.

The reserves are in three species, the so-called 3P, meaning the total amount of reserves that a company estimates has access, calculated as the sum of all proven and untested 3P-proven, probable, and available resources; proven, with probability and possible) .

So geology means that the process goes through testing and only then will it be estimated what is real potential.

Pure oil, but costs rise exponentially for extraction

Engineers explain that from the point of view of mobility, in Shperg, it is supposed to be a good source of oil mobility, which means that from quality it is similar to oil thrown into cars.

But its extraction costs are too high.

The deeper you dive into a source, the better is the quality of oil, but on the other hand you increase the level of aromatics and the content of h2, (Hydrogen Sulfide - a gas usually found during drilling and production of crude oil and natural gas). These are two problems involving extracting oil from the deep surface, leading to the need to build a surface stabilizer to cope with high h2 flows.

Each place you drill, the deeper you come down, the higher the level of h2, causing the so - called bitter product (source production), which this oil contains at high levels (more than 4 ppmv).

Another problem, which significantly increases production costs, is the depth of wells to be pierced. The increase of a five-six thousand-foot well has extreme costs.

By comparison, drilling of a well on the Patos Marinza field, which is the largest oil fields in the country and is currently used by Bankers Petroleum, has a cost of $1-1.5m for a well depth of up to 1500m. Engineers explain that as the depth increases, the cost increases exponentially, reaching up to 80 million dollars.

The duration of its opening goes to 6 months and the testing phase goes to another 6 months, so it will have to spend a year to complete actual production.

Maintaining wells is another high-cost process. The columns, first for drilling and then for extraction, are 6 thousand feet, and the injuries they may suffer are sensitive.

For a 1,500-foot cost well totals $30-40 thousand, while for 6 thousand meters, the cost is 10 times higher.

If production begins...

According to estimates made by the company itself, if the production process starts, 23,000 barrels of oil can be extracted from a well per day. Engineers explain this is considered a good level of production.

By comparison, Bankers Petroleum produces about 9,000 powers with more than 300 active wells, which are about 1,500-2000 feet deep. The oil extracted from Bankers is heavier than it is closer to the surface.

Although production for a well is at satisfactory levels, it is a time - consuming process.

The first stage is that of natural fountain, which is the stage in which the pump is not lowered, but because the pressure of the layer is high, this makes it the push of oil from underground to the surface, which lasts 1-2 years if the reservoir is detected.

The second is the pump phase, as the layer's energy drops, to continue extraction, the pumps must be lowered to make the extraction.

Engineers explain there is another problem. The source of Shpilag is in exploration, and a single well is not enough to identify if we have reserved. Mathematically, it takes at least three points to form an area, if you don't have three points you can't say you have a reservoir. To have three points, that means you have three wells. Technically Shell has drilled a well before and if it will produce, this will be the second. It's practically to drill and a third well to form the surface. If they find these three contures, they can create a clearer idea for the reserve potential.

If moved into production, another important process is transportation. Berat is not appropriate, geographically and practically thought about the transportation line from Berat to ports in Vlora or Durres.

Engineers explain that technically it is a process that will last for years technically and may take 5-10 years, always if oil is discovered and it is convenient to be extracted.

Is that good?

The cost of production, as mentioned, is huge. The opening of a well costs $80 m. If it is estimated that a well produces 2 thousand barrels of oil per day, at the current price of Brent's reference index, which is about $80/Fuchy, it will technically take a year to cover only the cost of drilling the well, without accounting for other costs.

So for any well that is put into use and that produces as much as expected, the first year serves to generate drilling costs, plus other personnel, pipelines, warehouses, totaling over $100m. As a result, atonement with a production of 2 thousand barrels per day requires a period of 1.5 years, meaning that for 1.5 years zero money is produced because all this money goes to cover costs.

However, if oil reserves are discovered, the company can generate high revenues through the opening of new wells. If production reaches 30,000 barrels a day, the company can generate $2.4 million a day - over 700 million a year.

Engineers explain that the possibility exists, the question is whether there is any or there is no oil source, and the answer to that is still not clear until the test is done.

Sale also presents a challenge in transporting oil. If discovered, the next phase is that of building pipelines towards Petrolifera in Vlora, or Porto Romanos in Durres, which has additional costs.

By comparison, Bankers Petroleum transports oil with underground pipelines, which collects it with collection points in the fields according to required parameters and takes it to the central collection unit “Fier Hub” and from there it is transported to the port of Petrolifera in Vlora through the train. In advance, oil was transported by world to Vlora.

Conclusion: Good news, but don't expect miracles or quick benefits

-If there's oil in Shperg, that would certainly be great news;

- Even if there is oil, the process of exploitation will be too long. It will have to be a decade to start getting the first fruit;

-The oil is pure, but the cost of extracting it, because of depth, is too high, and it will take a few years;

- However, if reserves are discovered, the company can act quickly by opening many wells at once, which will significantly increase the generated income, a well is estimated to extract 2-3 thousand barrels of oil a day;

- After oil is removed another problem is transportation. Due to Berat's geographical location, the company will have to build the distribution network for the port of Petrolifera in Vlora, or Porto Romano in Durres. /Monitor.al