India
Oil & Natural Gas Corp. let a $103 million contract for acquisition and onboard processing of 19 seismic surveys on 13,000 sq km off India.
The surveys will blanket the entire west coast and part of the east coast.
Cie. Generale de Geophysique plans to acquire the data in November 2004 through mid-June 2005. The dollar amount is among the largest in the industry, CGG said.
Vessels towing four to ten streamers will be required to work in the wide range of geological targets and water depths, including very shallow water, CGG said.
Iran
China National Petroleum Corp.'s international unit CNPC International Ltd. acquired from a unit of Sheer Energy Inc., Calgary, a 49% interest in a service contract with National Iranian Oil Co. to redevelop supergiant Masjid-i-Suleiman field.
Sheer, which signed the contract with Iran on May 28, 2002, is a western Canada gas producing company. An Iranian engineering company owns the majority interest in the field (OGJ, Mar. 4, 2002, p. 44).
Madagascar
The Majunga Offshore Profond joint venture group launched a 3D seismic program on the 4.4 million acre block of the same name in the Mozambique Channel off northwestern Madagascar.
Acquisition, begun July 31, will cover 3,657 sq km of the deepwater part of the block, said block operator Vanco Energy Co., Houston (see map, OGJ, Aug. 9, 2004, p. 33).
The group is evaluating the exploration potential of the Majunga salt basin. PGS is contractor using the M/V Ramform Challenger.
Block interests are Vanco and Norsk Hydro Majunga AS each 30% and ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Madagascar Majunga Ltd. 40%.
Mozambique
DNO ASA, Oslo, said two wells on the onshore Inhaminga Block north of Beira were unsuccessful.
The first well encountered no shows. The second well, northeast of the first, found only minor indications of hydrocarbons. Electric logs indicated that the presence of hydrocarbons was insufficient to test the well.
DNO operates the block with 80% working interest. Wilrusco, private Dallas independent, has 20%.
Northwest Territories
Devlan Exploration Inc., Calgary, spudded the Devlan Moose Lake D-07 exploratory well on the company's wholly owned, 201,160-acre EL 413 about 90 miles northwest of Fort Good Hope, NWT.
The well is projected to 800 m or just below the Devonian Bear Rock formation.
This drilling, in the Grandview Hills area of the Peel plateau, follows earlier work by Devlan and 50-50 partner Vintage Petroleum Inc., Tulsa, Okla., on 286,842-acre EL 386 farther west (OGJ, Dec. 9, 2002, p. 38).
The Devlan Vintage Tree River C-36 well, drilled to 1,878 m on EL 386 in early 2003, evaluated the Devonian Ronning, Bear River, and Hare Indian formations. Bear River is age-equivalent to the Keg River and Pine Point formations in northwest Alberta and Northeast British Columbia, Devlan said.
Devlan sees Devonian, Ordovician, and Cambrian potential in the Grandview Hills area.
Alaska
The Division of Oil & Gas approved creation of the Tuvaaq Unit in Harrison Bay between the Oooguruk and Nikaitchuq units and north of the Kuparuk River Unit.
Operator Armstrong Alaska Inc., Denver, plans to drill as many as three wells on the 14,561-acre unit, including one in the 2004-05 winter. After geologic and engineering studies and seismic reprocessing, a second exploration well may be drilled before or during the 2006-07 winter.
The second well is to test Cretaceous Kuparuk sand, Jurassic Nuiqsut sand, and limits of the Triassic Sag River, Eileen, and Ivishak accumulations in the unit.
Armstrong and Kerr-McGee Corp. tested 38° gravity oil from Sag River at 9,300-9,500 ft in early 2004 from two wells on the adjacent Nikaitchuq unit. Nikaitchuq-1 stabilized at 960 b/d.
Armstrong and Pioneer Oil & Gas Corp. drilled on the Oooguruk Unit in 2003, and Ivik-1 flowed 1,300 b/d from Nuiqsut sand.
Colorado
Houston Exploration Co. plans to drill 20 wells by yearend 2004 to Cretaceous Niobrara on a large block it just acquired in the Denver-Julesburg basin.
The company was negotiating in early August to acquire 330,000 net acres from an undisclosed seller. The acquisition closed Aug. 20.
Oregon
Scarab Systems Inc., Vancouver, BC, said its Methane Energy Corp. subsidiary has leased more than 60,000 acres in the Coos Bay basin in anticipation of starting a coalbed methane core hole program later this year.
The company intends to accumulate 100,000 acres or more within months.
Carbon Energy International drilled and tested two wells on the Coos Bay Prospect in 1993 on lands now held by Scarab. Gas in place was calculated at 12.4 and 7.6 bcf/sq mile, according to Sproule Associates Inc., Calgary, which reviewed the prospects for Scarab.
Sproule gave comparative figures of 2-4 bcf/sq mile for Powder River basin coals, 2-5 bcf/sq mile for Horseshoe Canyon coals in Alberta, 12.4 bcf/sq mile for Raton basin coals, and 3.7 bcf/sq mile for Warrior basin coals.
A majority of the nonproducing Coos Bay basin lies in Pacific Ocean waters. The onshore portion is more than 150 miles southwest of Mist gas field, Oregon's only producing area, and more than twice that far northwest of nearest gas fields in the Sacramento basin.
