China
Primeline Energy Holdings Inc., London, let a contract to Hispec Research Corp., Beijing, to reprocess 233 sq km of 3D seismic data over its two-well Lishui 36-1 (Vicky) gas-condensate discovery on Block 25/34 in the East China Sea (see map, OGJ, Dec. 17, 2001, p. 66).
Primeline is also finalizing design of a proposed new 3D seismic survey. The new survey and the reprocessing are aimed at optimal selection of the next well location.
New Zealand
Westech Energy New Zealand Ltd., Denver, plans to develop small Windsor gas field southeast of New Plymouth in the western coastal Taranaki basin.
The Windsor-1 well is to recover 500 MMcf of gas in 18 months at an initial 1.1 MMcfd declining at 52%/year. Reservoir is Miocene Mount Messenger sand at 1,100 m. No stimulation is planned. The 98.4% methane gas will flow into the NGC pipeline.
Crown Minerals issued the company a 3-year mining license designated PMP 38152. It is Taranaki’s 14th petroleum mining permit.
Westech discovered Windsor in 2000.
Peru
Petrolifera Petroleum Ltd., private Calgary independent, won exploration rights to Block 107 in the Ucayali basin.
The 3.2-million-acre block is north of and on trend with the Camisea gas-condensate fields. Minimum work program is $16.4 million and drilling one well in the 7-year term.
Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd., Calgary, is a guarantor of the license and retains a 10% carried working interest.
Block 107 contains Rashaya Norte, a look-alike feature to Aguaytia gas-condensate field, Connacher said. The block has a number of undrilled surface anticlines.
Tunisia
Two companies plan to spud an exploratory well by the end of 2005 on a structure that covers more than 300 sq km and tested gas and condensate in the 1960s.
Two wells drilled on the acreage cut a 150-m hydrocarbon column in Jurassic Lower Nara on the Chaal Permit onshore just west of Sfax. The former operators tested several zones at rates up to 3 MMcfd of gas and 25-80 bbl/MMcf of condensate.
Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan took a farmout, subject to government approval, from Candax Energy Inc., Toronto, which remains permit operator with 60% working interest. Mitsubishi will pay costs for the Chaal-1 well up to $8 million to earn a 20% working interest in the permit. SMIP of Tunisia holds the other 20%.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi and Candax agreed to form a joint project team to evaluate a major gas development project elsewhere in the Middle East. They would form a 50:50 partnership to evaluate the undisclosed project.
Pennsylvania
Aztec Oil & Gas Inc., Houston, took a minority working interest from an undisclosed operator in a program to drill as many as 40 gas wells in Cambria, Clearfield, and Potter counties.
The first well, Chagrin Bel-43, was drilled to TD 3,500 ft and cased and is to be completed in the Devonian Bradford, Sheffield, and Tiona sandstones.
Texas
West
Exploration Co., San Antonio, acquired a 100% working interest in 134,000 gross acres of oil and gas leases in Presidio and Brewster counties.
The Marfa basin block is prospective for Mississippian Barnett Shale, Devonian Woodford shale, and other plays, the company said. Seller and terms weren’t disclosed.