Area Drilling

Jan. 10, 2005
Quadra Resources Corp., Calgary, is to drill a second well on the Becerril structure in the Cesar basin, where it drilled an indicated gas discovery in late 2003.

Colombia

Quadra Resources Corp., Calgary, is to drill a second well on the Becerril structure in the Cesar basin, where it drilled an indicated gas discovery in late 2003.

Quadra projected the B2-X well to 3,800 ft to evaluate 950 ft of La Luna formation and 500 ft of Maracas formation on the 3,000-acre structure.

Logs from the B1-X well, MTD 5,200 ft, showed more than 400 ft of net hydrocarbon pay, but wellbore problems prevented formation tests. Logs and seismic data indicate 250 bcf of gas in place on the structure.

Quadra identified five more seismic structural leads similar to Becerril on the 182,000-acre Iraca association contract, which is bisected by the 579 km, 18 in., 200 MMcfd Ballena-Barrancabermeja gas pipeline.

Quadra holds 100% of the Iraca block. Cesar is a geologic continuation of the Maracaibo basin in Venezuela.

Harken Energy Corp., Dallas, said its 85% owned subsidiary Global Energy Development PLC started production from wells on two contract areas in the Llanos basin.

Global recompleted and placed on production the Tilodiran-1 well on the 75,000-acre Rio Verde contract area. It tested the well at 800 b/d of 20° gravity oil from an undisclosed formation. Global owns full interest in the well. Global was turning its attention to the Macarenas-1 well on the same block.

The Estero-5 well in Palo Blanco field on the Alcaravan Block produced a combined 200 b/d of 15.6° gravity oil from the Cretaceous Traditional Ubaque and Upper Massive Ubaque formations. This makes five wells and three reservoirs producing oil in the field, where Global has identified more locations for drilling.

Congo (Brazzaville)

Operators completed more strong wells in and near M'Boundi and Kouakouala fields.

Development Well 704 in the eastern half of M'Boundi field flowed 3,900 b/d of oil on a 40/64 in. choke from the Cretaceous Vandji B reservoir, said Burren Energy PLC, London. Burren holds 35% working interest in the field.

Kouakouala field step-out Well KKL 401 flowed 1,600 b/d of oil on the same size choke. It was drilled into an adjacent fault block north of the field's existing three wells and confirmed the existence of a productive reservoir in the northern part of the field. Burren's interest is 25%.

Maurel & Prom, Paris, operates both fields (see map, OGJ, Nov. 8, 2004, p. 36).

Equatorial Guinea

Nexen Inc., Calgary, said it has identified multiple prospects on 1.1-million-acre Block K off the Rio Muni enclave and plans to drill the next one in early 2005 once it identifies a final drilling location.

Nexen and Repsol Exploration Guinea SA, Madrid, abandoned the K-1 (Zorro) exploration well on the block after it found noncommercial quantities of hydrocarbons.

Iraq

Heritage Oil Corp., Calgary, formed a strategic alliance in the form of a joint venture with Eagle Group of Iraq, a Kurdistan concern.

The two companies incorporated Heritage Erbil Oil Ltd.

Heritage chairman and CEO Micael Gulbenkian, whose family has centuries-old business and benevolent involvement in Iraq, said he is recruiting local technical staff to begin detailed investigation of Kurdistan's oil and gas potential.

No hydrocarbon legislation is in place in Iraq, but Heritage plans to target projects with large proved reserves to produce more than 50,000 b/d and evaluate unexplored areas.

Ivory Coast

Vanco Energy Inc., Houston, said it assembled a group that will spud a rank exploratory well on Block CI-112 in late February 2005.

The group will drill the San Pedro prospect, a large faulted anticline with Albian reservoir potential. The Transocean Deepwater Discovery drill ship will handle the assignment in 1,750 m of water 25 miles off the coast and 200 miles southwest of Abidjan.

The San Pedro prospect is about 200 miles west of Baobab, Ivory Coast's first deepwater discovery, which Vanco points out is in a similar geologic setting and water depth on Block CI-40.

Group interests are Vanco Cote d'Ivoire, operator, 27%, ONGC Videsh Ltd. 21.15%, Oil India Ltd., 10.35%, Sinopec Overseas Oil & Gas Ltd. 27%, and Ivory Coast's state owned Petroci Holding 14.5%.

Kazakhstan

BMB Munai Inc., Almaty, said the energy and natural resources ministry added 64,247 acres to the Aksaz-Dolinnoe-Emir block in Mangistau oblast held by BMB's Emir Oil LLP subsidiary.

Minimum capital expenditures for exploration and development of the new acreage total $3 million in 2006 and $2.5 million in 2007. The entire license expires in July 2007.

BMB plans to acquire 3D seismic data on the expanded territory in 2005. The company plans to reprocess and reinterpret existing geophysical data.

Nelson Resources Ltd., Toronto, signed definitive agreements to acquire a further 40% interest in Karakuduk field for $36 million and a 55% interest in Arman field for $10.8 million with closing planned in January 2005. The seller in both cases is Kazakhstan's state Kazmunaigaz.

Nelson owns 60% of the stock of Chaparral Resources Inc., which holds the other 60% interest in Karakuduk field. This gives Nelson a 76% net interest in the field, which has substantial development potential.

Karakuduk, covering 16,900 acres in the Mangistau region, has 63 million bbl of proved and probable reserves and averaged 8,290 b/d in the third quarter of 2004. JSC Karakudukmunai, to be owned 60% by Chaparral and 40% by Nelson, operates the field.

Arman, 30 km north of North Buzachi field, covers 8,650 acres and has 10.8 million bbl of reserves. Operated by Shell Kazakhstan Development BV with 50% interest, it averages 4,500 b/d of oil.

Arman is in advanced depletion and will require little further capital expenditure, Nelson said.

New Zealand

The New Zealand unit of Swift Energy Co., Houston, took a farmout from Balance Agri-Nutrients Ltd. on 16,794-acre PEP 38742 in the north-central Taranaki basin and will become operator of the permit.

Swift Energy New Zealand Ltd. will drill the Karaka-1 well to the shallow Miocene Mount Messenger formation in the first half of 2005. GeoSphere Exploration Ltd. previously held the permit.

Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., Wellington, reached TD 4,895 m at the Cardiff-2 exploration well in the Taranaki basin.

The company experienced difficulties attempting to set 7-in. liner for eventual tests of the McKee, K1A, K2, and K3E sands and said a redrill from the 3,000 m level taking several weeks might be needed if the problems cannot be overcome (OGJ Online, Oct. 20, 2004). All of the named formations indicated gas shows on logs.

Norway

The government awarded Lundin Petroleum AB, Stockholm, interests in three exploration licenses in the Norwegian APA 2004 Licensing Round.

Lundin will operate PL 338 in Block 16/1 with 100% interest.

Lundin also was awarded 18% interest in PL 335, operated by BG PLC and containing Block 7/10 and part of blocks 7/4 and 7/7, and 15% interest in PL 340, operated by Marathon Oil Corp. and containing part of Block 24/9 adjacent to the 2004 Hamsun discovery and the Alvheim development.

The licenses have contract periods of 15 years with 3 to 5-year initial phases. The work commitment as part of the license awards includes two exploration wells.

Peru

Harken Energy Corp., Houston, will expand into Peru's Maranon basin.

Perupetro SA approved for signature a contract with Harken's 85% subsidiary Global Energy Development PLC on Block 9, which covers 1,255,000 acres. Global reprocessed seismic data and evaluated well data on a larger area that included the block under a 2001 technical evaluation agreement.

The contract, with durations of 7 years for exploration and 23 years for exploitation, should take effect in the first quarter of 2005.

Bretana-1, a 1974 discovery, flowed 800 b/d of 18° gravity oil. The find, which Global views as a development opportunity, is 90 miles southwest of Iquitos and 40 miles south of an oil pipeline terminus at Yanayacu oil field.

Russia

OAO Sibneft won at auction three oil fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District in Western Siberia.

Yamal-Nenets Department of Natural Resources held the auction Dec. 14 in the regional capital, Salekhard.

Department data show that Yuzhno-Udmurtskoye field has recoverable reserves of 1.2 million tons of oil and total geological reserves of 7.6 million tons.

Chatylkinskoye field has 3.1 million tons recoverable and 8.9 million tons geological reserves. Kholmistoye field has 9.7 million tons and 42.6 million tons, respectively.

Sibneft said the fields fit well geographically and structurally with the existing assets of its main oil production subsidiary, Sibneft-Noyabrskneftegas.

New Brunswick

Contact Exploration Inc., Calgary, planned to spud the MBA Dover 101 well in early January 2005.

The well, the first of two under a farmout from MBA Energy Corp., is to twin a 1958 well that had oil shows and gas flow rates of 700 Mcfd from multiple zones.

Nova Scotia

EnCana Corp. will drill an exploration well off Nova Scotia in 2005 on EL 2357 along trend with the undeveloped Deep Panuke gas discovery on the Scotian shelf.

Marauder Resources East Coast Inc., Calgary, which will participate with EnCana, said the Grand Pre well will spud by Sept. 30, 2005, subject to rig availability. Marauder will earn 35% working interest in the license and hold 11,240 net acres after the well is completed.

Marauder also holds 50% working interest to shallow rights in PL 2901 and 2902 and deep rights on part of PL 2901 off Nova Scotia.

Prince Edward Island

Shannon International Resources Inc., Calgary, signed a letter of intent to acquire all of the Prince Edward Island assets of Rally Energy Corp., Calgary.

Shannon will buy Rally's working interests in 368,000 gross acres of oil and gas permits, including a 92% working interest in a 65,000-acre permit in which Shannon previously held no interest.

Also to be acquired are Rally's interests in all PEI seismic, geomagnetic surveys, and well bore information.

Alabama

An Ordovician aged reservoir yielded oil and gas on the south side of Wiley Dome field in the Black Warrior basin.

S. Lavon Evans Jr. Operating Co. Inc., private Laurel, Miss., operator, established the new pay at the 1 Alawest 2-3, in Tuscaloosa County 20 miles north-northeast of Tuscaloosa.

Perforations at 5,896-5,906 ft and 5,950-6,000 ft pumped 37 b/d of oil, 32 Mcfd of gas, and 29 b/d of water, reported the Southeastern Oil Review, Jackson, Miss.

Vintage Petroleum Inc., Tulsa, acquired a majority interest in Big Escambia Creek field and plans to boost production by modifying facilities, drilling, and expanding the project area.

Vintage paid $76.4 million for 100% of ExxonMobil's interest in the field, in Escambia County near Vintage-operated Flomaton and Fanny Church fields and gas processing plant.

Big Escambia Creek has 13 operated and 2 nonoperated wells. It produces 1,920 boe/d of condensate, gas, and gas liquids from Jurassic Smackover.

Alaska

A federal resource assessment attributes undiscovered volumes of 5.5 tcf of gas, 173 million bbl of oil, and 127 million bbl of natural gas liquids to the 13,500-sq-mile Yukon Flats area in east-central Alaska.

The US Geological Survey attributed the technically recoverable volumes to a composite petroleum system in the area generally east of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

Available geologic evidence suggests that the petroleum system "contains multiple horizons of petroleum source rocks—including shale, mudstone, and coal of Tertiary and Mesozoic age—rather than a single horizon of source rock, as in some other petroleum systems of the world," the USGS said.

The area has low, forested hills and flatlands with numerous streams and lakes but no commercial oil or gas production. Coalbed methane is to be assessed separately later.

Louisiana

Mayne & Mertz Inc., Houston, gauged an Oligocene Hackberry discovery in Calcasieu Parish.

The 1 Jakty, 8 miles southeast of Lake Charles, flowed 4.5 MMcfd of gas and 434 b/d of 54° gravity condensate on a 12/64-in. choke with 7,517 psi FTP. Perforations are at 11,474-476 ft, 11,490-502 ft, and 11,568-576 ft, reported the Southeastern Oil Review.

Logs showed 100 ft of net Hackberry pay in the well, 20 miles east-northeast of Hackberry production in Clear Marais field.

Montana

Headington Oil LP, private Dallas operator, spudded the Halvorsen 31X-1 well in Richland County, which is projected to have more than 8,700 ft of horizontal exposure to the Mississippian Bakken formation at 10,750 ft TVD.

The well is on the east half of a 1,280-acre spacing unit such that a second horizontal well may be drilled later, said 26% interest owner Basic Earth Science Systems Inc., Denver. It is Basic's first participation in a horizontal Bakken well.

Basic expects to incur $675,000 in drilling and completion costs.

Nevada

Eden Energy Corp., Vancouver, BC, said it has acquired more than 210,000 acres on the Noah prospect in Eureka and White Pine counties in northeastern Nevada.

Noah is a 53 by 7 mile undrilled anticline of folded Paleozoic rocks in the Cretaceous Sevier thrust belt.

The targeted reservoir is a 200-400 ft thick band of karsted Devonian dolomite, the producing formation in Grant Canyon oil field 60 miles south. Secondary potential lies in fractured Lower Devonian Sevy dolomite, which produces in Blackburn oil field 15 miles north. Source rock is the Mississippian Chainman shale.

Eden Energy has 100% working interest in the 10-year federal leases.