New Zealand
Crown Minerals launched a licensing round that covers 17 land and offshore blocks in the Taranaki basin.
Nine offshore and eight land blocks are available. The offer closes Oct. 31, 2003.
The shelf blocks total 3 million acres in 50-200 m of water. The onshore blocks total 146,000 acres.
Eight license applications are pending and 86 exploration and mining permits are in force in New Zealand compared with 58 active permits 2 years ago, the government said.
A Canterbury basin bid round closes May 30, and a deepwater Taranaki basin round closes Sept. 30.
Oman
The sultanate let a 6-year, exclusive contract to Spectrum Energy & Information Technology Ltd., Woking, UK, for seismic data acquisition and reprocessing along the Arabian Sea coast.
Spectrum will reprocess 6,000 line km of existing 2D seismic from the Oman-Yemen border in the south to the Sur peninsula at the eastern end of the Gulf of Oman. Then, it will acquire 12,000 line km of new regional seismic, gravity, and magnetic data along the same coastline.
The survey will tie all wells drilled by previous operators and extend out to the 3,000-m bathymetric contour and will include interpretation and a hydrocarbon potential report.
Sudan
Malaysia's Petronas acquired the Sudan Block 5A 40.375% interest of Lundin Petroleum AB, Stockholm, for $142.5 million, subject to government and partner approvals expected by late June.
The Muglad basin block contains undeveloped Thar Jath field, with proved and probable reserves of 149.1 million bbl of oil.
Lundin retained its 24.5% interest in Block 5B, which the company believes has significant potential for major discoveries.
Gulf of Mexico
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. planned to spud a wildcat on its Atlas prospect on Lloyd Ridge Block 50 in the eastern gulf by mid-May.
Atlas is in more than 8,000 ft of water 18 miles north-northeast of the company's Jubilee discovery on Atwater Valley 349 (OGJ Online, Apr. 7, 2003).
Anadarko's Hawkeye wildcat on Lloyd Ridge 360 was a dry hole (OGJ Online, Feb. 28, 2003). The company holds 100% working interest in Hawkeye and Jubilee and 16 other eastern gulf prospects.
Anadarko found the thick reservoir-quality sands its seismic models predicted, but the sands were wet at Hawkeye. The company will use data gained from Jubilee and Hawkeye to refocus drilling on structural targets similar to Jubilee. The data also might improve understanding of other stratigraphic targets.