Argentina
Argentina's La Pampa province has granted Americas Petrogas Inc., Calgary, an exploitation license on the Medanito Sur concession in the eastern Neuquen basin.
The company noted that the 26,000-acre concession is in the part of the basin that contains conventional oil and gas and that the 25-year license provides the opportunity for further development on the block.
Brazil
A Petrobras group has found light oil in presalt reservoirs in the Carioca field assessment area in the deepwater Santos basin offshore Brazil. The well, designated 3-BRSA-1023 (3-SPS-85) or Carioca Sela, sampled 27° gravity oil at an approximate depth of 5,250 m.
The well is in 2,149 m of water 4.5 km from the Carioca field discovery well and 270 km off Sao Paolo state. Petrobras is operator with 45% interest, BG Group has 30%, and Repsol Sinopec Brasil has 25%.
China
Green Dragon Gas Ltd. said it averaged coalbed methane production of 4.4 MMcfd in fourth-quarter 2011 from the Shizhuang South block in China.
The company said it drilled 67 wells in 2011, of which 53 were vertical wells, compared with 29 in 2010. Most drilling was on Shizhuang South, but the 2011 drilling included 5 wells on Guizhou, 4 wells on Qinyuan, 2 each on Fencheng and Panxie East, and 1 on the Shizhuang North. These five are exploration blocks. The blocks are in Shanxi, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces.
The company is connecting the pipeline spur that will link the Huabei gas gathering station to China's main West-East trunk pipeline, which is to enable the sale of gas to PetroChina Huabei to start in the second quarter.
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast awarded African Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (APCL), Perth, an exploration permit on Block CI-509 in the Gulf of Guinea. APCL is operator of the 1,091 sq km block with 90% interest, and Ivory Coast's state Petroci has 10%. APCL was awarded Block CI-513 in December 2011.
The firm said its exploration program will target deepwater Upper Cretaceous submarine fans considered to have similar potential to finds off Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. It plans to shoot 3D seismic starting in mid-April.
APCL holds licenses on the Rufisque Offshore Profond and Senegal Offshore Sud Profond blocks totaling 18,277 sq km off Senegal, where it is operator, holding 90% interest. A 3D seismic shoot is under way there.
The firm shot 5,100 sq km of 3D seismic on Blocks LB-08 and LB-09 off Liberia, where it holds 100% interest and made the Narina-1 find on LB-09. And it has shot 2,500 sq km of 3D seismic on Blocks A1 and A4 off Gambia where it holds 60% interest with its partner Buried Hill Gambia BV.
Kazakhstan
Max Petroleum PLC said the Kazakh government has granted regulatory approval to convert Zhana Makat field in the North Caspian basin of western Kazakhstan to full field development status effective immediately.
The action allows the firm to develop and produce the field for as long as a further 25 years and grants it the right to sell 80% of crude oil produced from Zhana Makat on the export market under terms of the Blocks A&E exploration and production contract.
The firm, which expects to begin selling oil on the export market in April, said current export sales are generating aftertax net proceeds $22-25/bbl higher than comparable domestic sales. Zhana Makat is producing 2,100 b/d of oil from Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. Max Petroleum operates five other discoveries.
Tanzania
Aminex PLC said it has deepened the Ntorya-1 exploratory well onshore in the Ruvuma basin of Tanzania to a total depth of 2,750 m to test a target identified on seismic.
The well found strong gas shows in a good quality reservoir sand at 2,660 m. Aminex will run logs below 2,500 m. Ntorya-1 is designed to test the high-quality Basal Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous sands previously found in the Likonde-1 well 14 km north.
Participants in the deepening of the well below 2,500 m are Aminex's Ndovu Resources Ltd. unit operator with 75% interest and Solo Oil PLC 25%.
UK
Hurricane Exploration PLC has appointed EPC Offshore to select the optimum development concept for Hurricane's Lancaster discovery on the West of Shetlands 205/22 block in the UK.
The first phase of the project is expected to run until yearend with front-end engineering design starting in 2013. Hurricane has a 100% holding in Lancaster, which contains an independently estimated mid-case contingent resource of more than 200 million bbl of recoverable oil. Lancaster is southeast of Schiehallion field.
Quebec
The Macasty shale on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence offshore Quebec has properties similar to those of the Utica shale, the Macasty geological equivalent in eastern Ohio, said Corridor Resources Inc., Halifax, NS.
The Chaloupe Macasty shale's porosity averages 4-6%, which compares favorably to the Ohio Utica shale. This factor, together with earlier permeability analyses, is a positive indicator for oil and gas production potential.
Corridor, which controls nearly 900,000 acres of prospective Macasty lands on Anticosti Island, said the data would suggest that the rock properties of the Macasty shale are similar to that of the Utica shale in Ohio where a number of companies are active.
Ohio
Triad Hunter LLC, a unit of Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, said has acquired 15,558 gross (12,186 net) leasehold mineral interests prospective for the Utica shale mainly in Noble County, Ohio, for $24.8 million from an undisclosed seller.
Most of the acreage is held by shallow production, but none of that production is acquired. The purchase includes all depths from 300 ft below the top of the Upper Ordovician Queenston formation. The acreage is near Triad Hunter's existing position in Washington and Noble counties, Ohio, and provides Triad Hunter 18,187 gross (14,815 net) acres in the two counties and a total of 23,214 gross (17,316 net) acres prospective for the Utica shale.
Magnum Hunter said the acquisition provides the expansion opportunity for its midstream business, Eureka Hunter Pipeline, to immediately begin construction into a region not served by competitors yet greatly controlled now by the upstream Appalachian Division.
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