JPT: Regional Update April06

Vol. 56 No. 4

April 2004

Regional Update

AFRICA

Operator Chevron Corp., ExxonMobil, and Equity Energy Resources commenced exploration drilling in the Gulf of Guinea on deepwater Block 1, jointly owned by the countries of Sao Tome-Principe and Nigeria. The block is located approximately 190 miles north of the city of Sao Tome in 5,700 ft of water.
Operator Cabinda Gulf Oil, a Chevron subsidiary, Sonangol, Eni, Total, and Galp-E&P Petrolifera began production from the Belize field in deepwater Block 14 offshore Angola. The Benguela, Belize, Lobito, and Tomboco fields (which form the BBLT development) are located approximately 50 miles offshore in 1,300 ft of water.
Operator Total, Marathon, Sonangol, Esso, and Petrogal announced that the Gengibre-2 appraisal well confirmed the potential of the Gengibre-1 well in Block 32 offshore Angola. Several objectives were encountered on the Gengibre-2 well; flow in two intervals tested at 4,540 and 5,100 BOPD.
Peak Petroleum Nigeria and Equator Exploration encountered multiple hydrocarbon pay intervals on the B-DX1 well located in the OML 122 license area offshore Nigeria. The well was drilled to 2780 m.

Operator Shell Malaysia, Conoco-Phillips, and Petronas discovered oil and gas offshore northwest Sabah state, the fourth discovery in the area. The exploration well Pisagan-1A was drilled to 1465 m.
Petronas, PetroVietnam, and Pertamina found oil in Block SK-305 off the coast of Malaysia’s eastern Sarawak state. Output from the first of the four planned wells was 3,000 BOPD.
Daewoo Intl., Oil and Natural Gas Corp., the Gas Authority of India, and Korea Gas Corp. reported finding a 32-m-thick gas interval off the coast of northeastern Myanmar. Testing has not yet begun.
Thailand’s PTT E&P reported discovery of a new potential source of gas in Myanmar that is being assessed. The company is the sole owner and operator of 5 blocks, M3, M4, M7, M9, and M11, in Myanmar.

Operator Anzon Australia and Beach Petroleum delivered first oil from the Basker-Manta project in Australia’s Bass Strait. Producing from the Victorian Production License L/26 in the Gippsland basin, the project is the first floating production, storage, and offshore development in southeast Australia.
Stuart Petroleum brought Cooper basin wells Derrilyn 2 and Arwon 1 on stream, boosting the company’s production to more than 2,900 BOPD.
Permit operator Tap, well operator Austral Pacific Energy, and TAG Oil logged gas pay on the Supplejack South-1A exploration target, located in PEP 38765 in the onshore Taranaki basin.

ExxonMobil, Petoro, Statoil, and RWE Dea began drilling on the Kogge Gas Prospect in the Norwegian North Sea. Drilling to a depth of 5500 m is expected to take 3 months.
Statoil commenced drilling on the Uranus Prospect in the Barents Sea. The prospect is located 120 km from land in Block 7227/11 in Production License 202.
Operator Talisman, Summit North Sea Oil, and Eni found light oil in Block 16/22 in the Central U.K. North Sea adjacent to the Balmoral and Beauly fields. The find is to undergo further testing.
Lundin Petroleum confirmed a discovery on the La Tonnelle exploration well in the Nemours Concession onshore Paris basin.

Royal Dutch Shell commenced crude production from Phase III of its Champion West field offshore Brunei 2 months ahead of schedule. Initial flow from the reservoir was reported at 16,700 BOPD. The field also is producing gas.
PTT E&P discovered oil, gas, and condensate on the Shams-4 exploration well in Block 44 in the northern part of Oman. Two reservoir formations tested at 29 MMcf/D of gas and 1,770 B/D of condensate and 6.7 MMcf/D of gas and 7,880 BOPD.
Soco tested the Jathma-1 exploration well in the East Shabwa Development area in Yemen. Drilled to evaluate a prospect in the Basement reservoir in the northern area of Block 10, the well tested at more than 1,900 BOPD.

Gulfsands Petroleum made a second discovery on Eugene Island Block 58 (where it holds a 25% interest), encountering approximately 188 ft of potential net pay. A test of the lowermost interval produced 4.5 MMcf/D of gas and 24 B/D of condensate.
Operator Pel-Tex and IB Daiwa Corp. announced discovery of a 33-m gross gas column on the Kami Prospect in southern Louisiana.
Petsec Energy commenced production from three wells in the Main Pass 19 gas field in the Gulf of Mexico. Initial production rates are being held at 15.5 MMcf/D. The company also made a commercial gas discovery from the first well, Main Pass 19 G-7, in a four-well drilling program in the same field.

Operator Petrobras and Chevron announced that the PapaTerra field, located within Block BC-20 offshore in the Campos basin, is a commercially viable oil field with estimated reserves of 700 million to 1 billion bbl. Petrobras also confirmed the discovery of a new oil accumulation in the Marlim Leste field in the Campos basin. The discovery is located 120 km off the coast and 188 km from the city of Macaé in 1350 m of water.
Chaco reported a find at the Carrasco well in the Bajo 1 Block in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The well is rich in wet gas, from which an estimated 170 bbl of liquids can be extracted per Mcf of gas.
Operator Occidental Petroleum, Talisman, and Amerada Hess found oil in Block 64 of the Maranon basin in Peru. The Situche Central 1X well tested at 2,396 BOPD of 34.5°API oil.
Antrim Energy drilled and cased the Las Violetas 104 well, the third in a multiwell drilling program in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The well encountered a 5-m net pay interval in the target zone.