Australia
Bengal Energy Ltd., Calgary, has spudded the first of a three-well exploratory program on ATP 732P in Australia's southeastern Cooper basin.
The three wells target separate play types on the 654,335-acre Tookoonooka permit with potential for Cretaceous and Jurassic oil and Permian gas. Caracal-1, the first well, and the other two wells are projected to 1,600-2,000 m.
The well locations were chosen based on their multizone potential with as many as four prospective zones at each location. The permit is in an area of established oil and gas production and infrastructure.
Chad
Simba Energy Inc., Vancouver, BC, said it has signed a production sharing contract with Chad for 100% interest in three prospective oil and gas blocks in the Doba, Doseo, and Erdis basins.
The PSC for all three blocks has a first exploration phase of 5 years and a second exploration phase of 3 years (OGJ Online, Sept. 25, 2012). The adjacent Chari Sud Block I and the southern half of Chari Sud Block II total 10,111 sq km in southern Chad, and Erdis Block III covers 15,700 sq km in northern Chad. Simba Energy plans to start work as soon as Chad's National Assembly ratifies the blocks.
The first exploration phase requires geological and geophysical studies to include processing and reinterpretation of existing 2D seismic, acquisition of at least 750 line-km of new 2D seismic, and shooting of 400 sq km of 3D seismic (or 2D equivalent) to determine the range of possible drilling opportunities for the second phase that requires two exploration wells.
Guyana
Repsol Exploracion SA agreed to take a farmout from CGX Energy Inc., Toronto, of 5% of CGX's 25% participating interest in the Georgetown Petroleum Prospecting License, subject to government approval.
Revised interests effective Sept. 1 would be Repsol operator with 20%, Tullow Oil PLC 30%, YPF Ghana Ltd. 30%, and CGX 20%.
Israel
A group led by GeoGlobal Resources Inc., Calgary, will plug and abandon the Sara-1 deepwater exploratory well off Israel after drilling it to 3,928 m TVD subsea in 1,400 m of water.
Cuttings and logs indicate that the well encountered 98 m of high-quality reservoir sands in the Lower Miocene/Upper Oligocene that had good porosity and permeability. There were indications that gas has migrated through the system, but the sands are wet with no commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, GeoGlobal said.
Earlier this year, logs at the Myra-1 wildcat on the Myra license confirmed the presence of high-quality Lower Miocene sands equivalent in age to the Tamar sands and gas shows that indicate an active hydrocarbon system on the Myra license (OGJ Online, Sept. 16, 2012).
GeoGlobal said it believes there are more prospects on the Myra and Sara licenses and in the basin. It plans to further refine the geological model and evaluate other potential targets.
"Having completed the work programs in Myra and Sara the company is now qualified as a deepwater operator in Israel. We intend to use this qualification to open up new opportunities to us in the basin and abroad," GeoGlobal said.
Kenya
Tullow Oil PLC has spudded the Paipai-1 exploratory well on Block 10A in northwestern Kenya.
Proposed depth is 4,112 m to test Cretaceous and Jurassic sandstones in the Anza graben, whose geological history is comparable to and on trend with Sudan's oil producing basins, said Africa Oil Corp., Vancouver, BC, which has a 30% working interest in the block.
Africa Oil said the well targets a large structural trap in an oil-prone area of the basin. Earlier wells had oil and gas shows, and newly shot seismic surveys have helped improve mapping and identified Paipai as a potentially high-impact feature.
Tullow and Africa Oil are drilling Twiga South-1 in the Lokichar subbasin onshore Block 13T in Kenya. Results are expected by the end of October. Tullow is finalizing plans to mobilize a rig to Ethiopia for an exploratory drilling campaign starting with the Sabisa-1 well on the South Omo block in late 2012.
