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Vol. 59 No. 4

April 2007

Regional Update

AFRICA

  • Total S.A. made two oil discoveries with the eighth and ninth exploration wells drilled on Block 32 in ultradeep water offshore Angola. Total is the operator of the block with a 30% interest. The Manjericao-1 well, drilled in a water depth of 1977 m, tested at more than 5,000 BOPD. The Caril-1 well, drilled in a water depth of 1673 m, produced at a rate of 6,300 BOPD of light oil.
  • Sonangol and BP made an oil discovery with the Terra well in ultradeepwater Block 31, offshore Angola. Terra is the 12th discovery that BP has drilled in Block 31. The well is located 30 km northwest of the Titania discovery, in water depth of 2328 m, 411 km northwest of Luanda. 
  • BP Egypt drilled a successful well, Giza North-1, in the North Alexandria concession held by BP, RWE Dea, and EGPC/Egas. The well encountered a significant gas accumulation as part of a large channel complex. It is estimated that the Giza complex contains more than 1 Tcf of gas, and another well is planned to be drilled to appraise the complex. The rig will soon move onto the next appraisal well in the Taurus field as part of a planned four-well appraisal program in the North Alexandria concession.
  • Roc Oil Co. Ltd. announced that the Woodside-operated Chinguetti-18 development well in PSC B offshore Mauritania has been drilled to a total depth of approximately 2883 m. Well results are in line with expectations, with a gross oil column of approximately 213 m in good-quality reservoir sands that appear well placed to access pressure support from the Chinguetti-8 (Sidetrack 1) water-injection well. Chinguetti-18 is located within the southern part of the Chinguetti oil and gas field in a water depth of 819 m, 80 km southwest of Nouakchott.
  • Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Chevron, and partners achieved an oil discovery in deepwater Block 14, offshore Angola. The discovery well, Lucapa-1, was drilled in 3,940 ft of water to a true vertical depth of 10,958 ft and encountered more than 280 net ft of oil in Miocene sands. The Lucapa discovery is the 10th exploration discovery made in Block 14 since 1997.

ASIA

  • Total announced three gas discoveries—Ton Chan-1X, Ton Chan-2X, and Ton Rang-2X—drilled on Blocks 15 and 16 in the Gulf of Thailand, operated by PTTEP. The two wells in the Ton Chan area are located on Block 16 of the Bongkot concession. Ton Chan-1X found gas-bearing reservoirs with a total net pay thickness of 143 m. Ton Chan-2X found gas with a total net pay thickness of 44 m. Ton Rang-2X is located on Block 15 of the Bongkot concession and encountered of 72 m of gas-bearing sand.
  • Operator Murphy Oil Corp. announced that its Rotan #1 exploration well encountered significant natural-gas pay in a single zone. The well reached a total depth of 7,024 ft and was drilled in 3,773 ft of water in Block H offshore Sabah, Malaysia.

EUROPE

  • Russia’s Petromir said it discovered gas in the Siberian region of Irkutsk. The field, known as Angaro-Lenskoye, holds 1.22 Tcm of gas and 61.79 million tonnes of gas condensate, according to Russian reserves classifications, the company said.
  • Maersk Oil North Sea U.K. Ltd. produced first oil from its Dumbarton Development, a redevelopment of the Donan field, located in Blocks 15/20a and 15/20b in the U.K. sector of the North Sea in 140 m of water, 225 km northeast of Aberdeen. Dumbarton is operated by Maersk (70%) with partner Noble Energy (30%).

MIDDLE EAST

  • Luksar, a joint venture between Lukoil and Saudi Aramco, made a hydrocarbon discovery on the Tukhman structure in contract area Block A in Saudi Arabia. The contract area is located in the northern part of Rub Al-Khali, south of Al-Ghawar. Luksar plans a detailed appraisal of the discovery to evaluate its potential further.
  • Operator EnCana and Altinex spudded the first well in an onshore exploration campaign in Blocks 3 and 4 onshore Oman. The well, Neimah-1, is being drilled in the southern part of Block 4, approximately 450 km southwest of Muscat. The drilling is expected to take 25 days, and this is the first well in a three-well program. After completion of the Neimah-1 well, the rig will be moved to the Maeen-1 well location, also located in Block 4, 17 km to the west of the first well.
  • Thailand’s PTTEP began producing natural gas and condensate from the Shams field in Oman. Shams is part of Oman’s Tract 44 project located in the Suneinah Desert, approximately 300 km west of Muscat.

NORTH AMERICA

  • BP’s Thunder Horse oil and gas project in the Gulf of Meixico (GOM) is due to start up by the end of 2008. The start of production was postponed from 2005 to 2008 after the offshore platform was damaged by a hurricane. Thunder Horse—which will produce hydrocarbons from a depth of 6,000 ft—is designed to process 250,000 BOPD and 200 MMcf/D of gas.
  • Petro Resources Corp. successfully drilled three wells, each with multiple pay, in the GOM. East Cameron 359 (#A-12) and East Cameron 359 (#A-14) have been drilled and are waiting on completion operations. A third discovery was drilled in Matagorda Is-land 562L (#1). That well has been completed and is awaiting pipeline connection. The three discoveries were made through the company’s partnership with Hall-Houston Exploration.

SOUTH AMERICA

  • Lukoil discovered oil in the Medina structure of the Condor exploration block in Colombia. Preparation is under way to launch commercial production at the field. Condor is being implemented by Lukoil, which has a 70% stake, and Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol, which holds 30%. The block is situated in the foothills of the Andes in the western part of the Llanos oil and gas basin.