JPT

 

Vol. 58 No. 9

September 2006

Regional Update

AFRICA

  • Operator Chevron, Sonangol, Eni, Total, and GALP began oil production from the Lobito field in deepwater Block 14 offshore Angola.The Lobito field is part of Chevron’s “Benguela, Belize, Lobito, and Tomoboco” 2-phase development, located 50 miles offshore southern Africa in 1,300 ft of water.

  • Repsol YPF, RWE Dea, Sonatrach, and Edison tested the first two wells in the Reggane Nord Permit Area in Algeria on Blocks 351c and 352c in the Reggane basin, Saharan Platform. Gas was encountered on both wells at more than 22.2 MMcf/D and 3.5 MMcf/D. Another gas find was reported on the KL-2 well in the Reggane Nord area.

  • Peak Petroleum reported a gas find on the OML 122 lease offshore Nigeria, east of Shell’s Bonga field. The Owanare 1 well is located in 137 m of water.

ASIA

  • China Natl. Petroleum Corp. discovered 30 million tons of oil offshore the city of Tianjinon on China’s eastern seaboard. The well is located in the southern part of the Dagang field.

  • Husky Energy and China Natl. Offshore Oil Corp. found gas in the South China Sea. The discovery, estimated to contain 4−6 Tcf, was made on Block 29/26 approximately 250 km south of Hong Kong.

  • Operator Kerr-McGee and Stone Energy found oil pay in two intervals with their first well drilled in Bohai Bay. The CFD No. 22-2-1 well was drilled to 9,065 ft.

AUSTRALIA

  • Chevron reported a gas find on its 100%-owned Chandon-1 exploration well, located 160 miles offshore northwestern Australia in Permit WA-268-P. The well, drilled to a total depth of 10,200 ft in 3,900 ft of water, sits within the westernmost section of the Greater Gorgon development area.

  • Operator Santos and Tap Oil encountered oil on the Amulet-1 exploration well in Production License WA-8-L in the Dampier subbasin of Western Australia. A sidetrack well, Amulet-3, intersected an oil column updip from Amulet-1.

EUROPE

  • Chevron and Korean Captain Co. announced first oil production from the Captain Area C Project. Production is expected to average 9,000 BOPD over the first year, with peak production of approximately 15,000 BOPD soon after startup. The Captain field is located approximately 68 miles north of Aberdeen, in the Inner Moray Firth.

  • Operator Statoil, Petoro, and Hydro made two oil discoveries in the Tampen area of the North Sea. It is estimated that the finds contain a combined 15 million BOE.

  • Marathon, Island Oil and Gas, and Sunningdale Oils Ireland encountered gas on the first well of their 2006–07 drilling program, Well 48/23-3 at Seven Heads West in the Celtic Sea.

MIDDLE EAST

  • Kuwait Oil Co. discovered 5 Tcf of gas in a new gas field located in the country’s west district. Initial output of the field is expected to reach 180 MMcf/D by the end of 2007.

  • DNO reported a flow rate of approximately 5,000 BOPD during testing of the Tawke No. 1 well in Kurdistan. Testing confirmed the presence of oil in four intervals. The company also reported oil shows on the Alkhoon No. 1 exploration well in Yemen Block 44.

NORTH AMERICA

  • Pemex reported test results on the Noxal well, located approximately 60 miles off the coast of Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The well, drilled in approximately 3,000 ft of water to a depth of more than 13,000 ft, flowed at 9 MMcf/D of gas.

  • Petsec commenced gas production from three wells in the GOM—G-4, G-5, and G-7 at Main Pass 19. The wells are flowing at a combined rate of approximately 15 MMcf/D.

  • Operator Husky Energy, Pogo Producing, EOG Resources Canada, Pacific Rodera Energy, and Intl. Frontier Resources reported a find at the Stewart D-57 well in the Central Mackenzie Valley in Canada’s Northwest Territory. The well encountered a hydrocarbon column of more than 50 m.

SOUTH AMERICA

  • PDVSA and Petrobras found a 240-ft layer of oil sands estimated to hold 1.2 billion bbl of recoverable oil on Carabobo Block 1 in the Orinoco River basin. The layer of oil sands lies approximately 2,000 ft below the surface.

  • Operator Petrobras, BG, and Petrogal found light oil with the 1-BRSA-369A-RJS well, located in ultradeep Santos basin waters. This is the first well to be drilled in the BM-S-11 Block and is the first successful Brazilian well to be drilled through a layer of salt more than 2000 m in thickness.

  • Antrim Energy found oil on the Las Violetas 105 well in Tierra del Fuego, a province shared by Argentina and Chile. The LV-105 well is the 10th of 11 wells in the exploration program.