JPT

 

Vol. 59 No. 3

March 2007

Regional Update

AFRICA

  • Sonangol, Total, Marathon Oil, Esso E&P Angola, and Petrogal discovered oil with the Salsa-1 exploration well, drilled on Block 32 in the ultradeep waters offshore Angola. Drilled in a water depth of 1806 m, the Salsa-1 well tested at a rate of 3,686 BOPD. The discovery is located in the southeastern part of Block 32, approximately 15 km southwest of the Mostarda-1 discovery.
  • Dana Petroleum completed deepwater drilling operations at the Aigrette-1 exploration well in Block 7 offshore Mauritania. Aigrette-1 showed oil in the targeted Cretaceous sandstones, 43 km northwest of Dana’s Pelican-1 gas discovery. The Aigrette-1 well was drilled to a total depth of 5152 m in a water depth of 1358 m.
  • Operator Woodside Petroleum, Repsol YPF S.A., and Hellenic Petroleum announced a discovery at the C1-NC210 exploration well in Libya. The well, located 1000 km south of Tripoli, shows potential for several separate gas- and oil-bearing zones.

ASIA

  • GS Caltex Corp. made an oil and gas discovery in onshore Thailand Block L10/43. The company found oil-bearing zones that tested at 1,254 BOPD. Blocks L10/43 and L11/43 are just north of the Sirikit oil field, the country’s largest onshore oil-producing field.
  • Hess Corp. said that natural-gas production has begun from the Phu Horm field in northeast Thailand. Gross natural-gas production is 60 MMcf/D from two wells. Production is expected to increase to a rate in excess of 100 MMcf/D when additional wells are completed this year.
  • Operator Talisman Energy and PetroVietnam reported that the Hai Su Trang exploration well offshore Vietnam was drilled to a total depth of 10,888 ft and encountered a hydrocarbon-bearing interval of approximately 268 ft in the Lower Miocene zone, including 170 ft of significant net pay. The well, located in Block 15-2/01, 80 km off the east coast of Vietnam, tested at a combined rate of 14,863 BOPD.
  • Hardy Oil & Gas and India’s Gail Ltd. found oil and gas in the Cauvery offshore basin in the Bay of Bengal. An exploratory well encountered hydrocarbon layers at depths ranging from 3333 to 3809 m. Hardy has a 75% interest in the field, with Gail holding the rest.
  • PTT E&P found more oil at the Nang Nuan Project when an exploration well encountered an average flow rate of 9,050 BOPD. The NNN-A04ST exploration well was drilled to a total depth of 3205 m. The Nang Nuan Project is located in the Gulf of Thailand off the coast of Chumporn Province.

AUSTRALIA

  • ConocoPhillips announced the successful testing of the Barossa-1 exploration well in the NT/P69 license located offshore Northern Territory, Australia. The Barossa-1 well was drilled to a total depth of 4310 m. One test flowed gas at a rate of 30.1 MMcf/D while the other test flowed gas at a rate of approximately 0.8 MMcf/D.

EUROPE

  • The Buzzard oil field in the U.K. Central North Sea came onstream and has production targets of 200,000 BOPD and 60 MMcf/D of gas. Buzzard, operated by Nexen Petroleum U.K. Ltd., has reserves of more than 500 million BOE. It is the largest North Sea discovery to be developed in more than a decade. Buzzard lies in 317 ft of water about 100 km northeast of Aberdeen in the Outer Moray Firth.
  • Statoil began drilling the 16/4-4 exploration well on the Biotitt prospect in the Norwegian North Sea. The well will reach a total depth of 2400 m in 91 m of water. The prospect is in the southwest area of Block 16/4 on Production License 339. Statoil is operator, holding a 70% stake, while Exxon Mobil Corp. has 30%.

MIDDLE EAST

  • Austrian oil company OMV began oil production in Block S2 in the Shabwa Province of western Yemen. OMV will assess the hydrocarbon potential of the rest of the block and explore the adjacent Block 2. OMV is the operator, with a 44% interest. Other owners are Sinopec (37.5%), Yemen General Corp. for Oil and Gas (12.5%), and Yemen Resources (6%).

NORTH AMERICA

  • Hess Corp. completed sidetracking of its Pony discovery in Green Canyon Block 468 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The sidetrack well, drilled approximately 2,700 ft northeast of the discovery well to a depth of 30,634 ft, encountered 280 ft of oil-saturated sandstone in Miocene reservoirs. The sidetrack well established a record for the deepest conventional core ever recovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Operator Anadarko and Devon Energy discovered oil at their Mission Deep prospect on Green Canyon Block 955. The discovery well encountered more than 250 ft of net oil pay in the primary Middle Miocene objective. The well, in 7,300 ft of water, was drilled to a total depth of approximately 25,000 ft. Plans include deepening the well and drilling a sidetrack well to further delineate the extent of the reservoir.
  • Hydro and Husky Energy discovered hydrocarbons during delineation drilling in the Jeanne d’Arc basin offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. The West Bonne Bay F-12 well is located in Significant Discovery License 1040, approximately 320 km southeast of St. John’s, near the Terra Nova oil field.

SOUTH AMERICA

  • Shell announced that one of its Brazilian offshore oil fields is commercially viable. Shell and its partners defined two areas within the BS-4 Block for development. The field is located at a water depth of 1550 m in the Santos basin, 185 km offshore Rio de Janeiro. Shell is the lead operator of the block, with a 40% stake, while Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petrobras holds 40% and Chevron Corp. holds the remaining 20%. BS-4 has estimated reserves of 300 million bbl of very heavy crude.