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Vol. 59 No. 6

June 2007

Regional Update

Africa

  • Total made two oil discoveries in the Moho-Bilondo Permit off the coast of the Republic of Congo. The first development phase of Moho-Bilondo will consist of 12 subsea wells expected to produce 90,000 BOPD. Total owns a 53.5% interest in Moho-Bilondo, Chevron holds 31.5%, and Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo owns 15%.
  • Apache reports that the Jade-1X well on the company’s Matruh Concession in Egypt’s Western Desert tested at 25.6 MMcf/D of gas from the Jurassic Upper Safa member of the Khatatba formation. The company operates the Matruh Concession with a 100% interest.
  • IPR Red Sea and ONGC Videsh made a discovery in their first exploration well in the North Ramadan Concession in the Gulf of Suez. North Ramadan-1A is located 6 km west of IPR’s North July oil field and was drilled to 10,050 ft in the Lower Miocene Mheiherrat formation. IPR, the operator, tested the reservoir at a naturally flowing rate of 2,979 BOPD and 1.5 MMcf/D of gas with no water.
  • Empresa Nacional del Petróleo made an oil discovery in the East Ras Qattara Block in Egypt’s Western Desert with the drilling of the Ghard-1 well. The Ghard-1 well was drilled to 3436 m and proved the existence of oil in the lower Bahariya formation.

Asia

  • PTTEP’s Zawtika 2 well offshore Myanmar, located south of the Zawtika-1A well, was drilled to 3500 m and encountered six zones of natural-gas-bearing formation. Flow-rate tests were conducted on three zones, indicating maximum natural-gas flow rates of 38.9, 32.4, and 38.2 MMcf/D.
  • Chevron started production at the Bibiyana gas field in Bangladesh. The USD 230 million project is expected to produce 200 MMcf/D initially, with plans to increase this to 500 MMcf/D by 2010.
  • PetroVietnam and Tailsman Energy discovered oil in Block 15-2/01 offshore south Vietnam. Block 15-2/01 covers an area of 700,000 acres and is located 30 km offshore Vung Tau. PetroVietnam and Tailsman formed the Thang Long Joint Operating Company (JOC) in April 2005 to start exploration work and first discovered oil and gas reserves in Block 15-2/01 in December 2006. Thang Long JOC will drill three more test wells in the block before it starts production later in 2007.
  • PetroChina’s oil discovery in Jidong field, Bohai Bay, China, is estimated to contain probable reserves of 2.2 billion bbl and is expected to produce 200,800 BOPD within 3 years. The field offshore northeastern China is the biggest discovery in China in the past 10 years. Crude-oil output from Jidong will likely exceed output from PetroChina’s Tarim basin in the northwest, which is the company’s other major oil field.
  • Sinopec discovered gas in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. It was reported that reserves likely would exceed those of Puguang, a gas field also in Sichuan Province with proven reserves estimated at 500 billion m3.
  • Exxon Mobil Exploration and Production Malaysia (EMEPMI) started production of non-associated gas from the Tabu field, 200 km offshore Terengganu. The project was developed under the gas production sharing contract (GPSC) between EMEPMI as the operator, and co-venturer Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd. EMEPMI and Petronas Carigali each hold 50% interest in the GPSC.

Australia

  • Shell, Todd Energy, and OMV announced that first gas flowed from the Pohokura field in Taranaki. Gas and condensate flowed from the first offshore well through a subsea pipeline to the processing production station at Motunui, near New Plymouth. Shell (48%), Todd Energy (26%), and OMV (26%) jointly own the field, while Shell Exploration NZ operates it.

Europe

  • Total said development of the Jura gas and condensate field has been launched. The Jura discovery represents more than 170 million BOE of proved and probable reserves and is located in the Alwyn area (100% owned and operated by Total) in the UK sector of the North Sea, 160 km east of the Shetland Islands and 440 km northeast of Aberdeen.

Middle East

  • OMV successfully tested gas at its Latif 1 exploration well in the Latif Exploration Block in Northern Sindh Province, Pakistan. The exploration well reached a total depth of 3520 m and encountered a total of 18.7 m of net gas/condensate pay in three layers at depths of 3200 to 3450 m.

North America

  • Marathon Oil said a new deepwater discovery well in the Green Canyon region of the Gulf of Mexico had struck oil. The Droshky No.1 well lies approximately 137 miles south-southwest of Venice, Louisiana, in approximately 2,900 ft of water. The well was drilled to 21,190 ft and encountered a reservoir with approximately 250 ft of net oil pay. Marathon owns 100% interest in the find.
  • Pioneer Natural Resources discovered a gas field in northern Alberta, Canada. The company initiated production at 18 MMcf/D from three wells. Pioneer has a 100% working interest and a 75% net-revenue interest in the new field. The field is located within Devonian and Cretaceous gas fields that have produced more than 2.2 Tcf.
  • Bow Valley Energy has started drilling operations on the second well of its exploration program on the North Slope of Alaska. The Sak River No. 1 well was spudded using Nabors Alaska drilling rig No. 27E. The well will test Kuparuk and Ivishak exploration potential that has been identified with 3D-seismic data within the Gwydyr Bay area.

South America

  • Établissements Maurel et Prom made an oil discovery on the Guarrojo Permit with the Ocelote-1 exploration well in the Llanos central region in Colombia. The well, located 300 km east of Bogota, stopped at 4,816 ft and pumped 600 BOPD. Maurel et Prom holds 100% of the exploration permit.