The discovery of a large reserve of high-quality gas and oil in Shpirag, Albania’s most important oil-bearing area, is regarded as one of the most significant achievements by hydrocarbon researchers.
According to Stavri Dhima, a researcher and oil well designer, drilling down to over 6,000 meters in depth could yield up to 100 million barrels, far exceeding expectations.
“It has been confirmed through measurements that we have a significant oil-bearing layer, with good-quality oil that is up to 38 degrees API, light, and comparable to that of Saudi Arabia.” According to officially published information about the Shpirag 2 well, the wellbore is larger than 800 meters, whereas the Shpirag 5 well has surpassed 1,000 meters without encountering water, indicating a very large reservoir. When compared to Val Daghri, we could have up to 100 million barrels of recoverable reserves,” expert Dhima said.
Beyond extraction, the possibility of processing this amount of oil domestically, based on domestic market needs, is low, according to researcher Dhima.
“The Val Daghri field produces up to 85,000 barrels of oil per day, whereas here it is expected to produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil.” The quantities are quite large; it would be very advantageous to process everything domestically, even though our internal demand is not that great, but the main opportunity lies in export,” the expert added.
According to Dhima, Albania has three refineries that do not produce in large quantities. Prime Minister Edi Rama announced in November 2022 the construction of an oil-processing refinery in Albania. According to him, Azerbaijan will invest in its construction, which will benefit the country by influencing oil price declines and reducing imports.