Brazil
Northern Oil ASA, Oslo, will participate in the development of Manati gas-condensate field in the Camamu-Almada basin.
Discovered in 2000, Manati is in 35 m of water off Salvador and has proved reserves of 220 bcf of gas and 1.3 million bbl of condensate. The field is to start up in mid-2006 through a 24-in., 125-km pipeline to shore for delivery of the gas to Petroleo Brasileiro near Salvador, Bahia.
The block also contains part of an undeveloped oil discovery with 10 million bbl of oil and 71 bcf of gas that requires unitization because it extends onto an adjoining block.
Morocco
Baraka Petroleum Ltd., Perth, signed a memorandum of understanding for a 6-month evaluation of the 3,591 sq km Cap Juby heavy oil accumulation in 200 m of water or less in the Atlantic off Morocco.
About 400 sq km of the project area is in an area of Morocco that is under United Nations jurisdiction. The tenement also contains other leads and prospects, including the Winnow and Shazam leads. Baraka will reevaluate 2D and 3D seismic data and, if appropriate, negotiate an exclusive concession.
Information from Morocco’s state Onarep indicates Cap Juby to be an accumulation of 10-11° gravity oil in a fractured late Jurassic carbonate bank in the Tarfaya basin as penetrated in the Cap Juby-1 well drilled in 1983.
Qatar
Wintershall AG has an apparent discovery at the WAQ-3 exploration well on Block 11 in the Persian Gulf northeast of Qatar.
The Cretaceous Upper and Lower Sulaiy formations tested oil, and the well also identified oil potential in the Kharaib and Jurassic Arab formations, said 49% working interest owner Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The well was drilled to TD 5,220 ft in the first quarter of 2005.
The companies were considering 3D seismic acquisition and further drilling to determine field size and commerciality, Anadarko said.