Australia
The Australian government awarded Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Australian unit 100% interest in a 1,000 sq km block in the Browse basin near giant Ichthys/Brewster offshore gas fields.
Shell Development (Australia) Pty. Ltd. committed to seismic studies in the first three years and will reprocess a large 3D seismic grid and conduct in-depth reservoir analysis. It will carry out field development planning and drill 12 wells.
The acreage holds large potential for a further 3-year program, Shell said.
WA-371-P, formerly part of the relinquished WA-285-P, is in 200-300 m of water in the Caswell subbasin 450 km west-northwest of Broome.
The Ichthys complex of fields has an estimated 10 tcf of gas and 500 million bbl of condensate in place (see map, OGJ, Oct. 17, 2005, p. 34).
Guyana
Groundstar Resources Ltd., Calgary, began a ground gravity survey in early January in the Rewa area in the northeastern Takutu basin.
Aim is to improve structural control of the large, undrilled Rewa prospect, which is partially fault-controlled to the east and north. The survey, to be completed in March, will help delineate the orientation and extent of the faults.
Rewa as currently mapped covers 110 sq km and could contain 110 million bbl of recoverable hydrocarbons, Groundstar said.
Nigeria-Sao Tome JDZ
Chevron Corp. spudded the Obo-1 wildcat on 704 sq km Block 1 about 190 miles north of Sao Tome and 125 miles south of Port Harcourt.
The Transocean Inc. Deepwater Discovery drillship is at the site in 5,750 ft of water in the Gulf of Guinea, said Afren PLC, London (see map, OGJ, Sept. 8, 2003, p. 38). Drilling should take 60 days barring difficulties, Afren said.
Block interests are Chevron 51%, ExxonMobil Corp. 40%, and Dangote Energy Equity Resources Ltd. 9%. Afren holds 49% of the equity in Dangote.
Signature bonus for the block was $123 million. The nearest existing wells to Block 1 are Akpo and Egina less than 20 km north in OPL 246 off Nigeria, Afren said.
Saudi Arabia
LUKOIL Overseas spudded its first wildcat aimed at deep gas-condensate in Block A in the eastern Rub al-Khali basin. The well is projected to 5,000 m on the dome of the Tukhman structure. The drillsite is south of supergiant Ghawar oil and gas field in the 29,928 sq km block held 80% by LUKOIL Saudi Arabia and 20% by Saudi Aramco.
The LUKSAR joint venture has reinterpreted more than 8,000 line-km of seismic data. It also acquired, processed, and interpreted 2D, 3D, and 3D-sparse seismic surveys.
Indiana
Four pilot wells are producing a combined 1.5 MMcfd of gas from Devonian New Albany shale in southwestern Indiana, said Pogo Producing Co., Houston.
The first of about 20 New Albany exploration and development wells budgeted for 2006 will soon spud. The horizontal El Paso 1-14H Sander well will go to TD 5,700 ft MD at 1,560 ft TVD. El Paso Exploration & Production Co. and Pogo Producing are drilling on a gross position of 225,000 acres. Current development is on 320-acre spacing, El Paso said.
The acreage is centered on Daviess County, northwest of where Quicksilver Resources Inc., Fort Worth, produces New Albany gas in Corydon and Laconia fields, Harrison County, Ind.
A biogenic gas fairway in the southeastern Illinois basin in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky could contain 80 to 160 tcf of gas in place, a National Petroleum Council study found.
Kentucky
Two geologists have combined information from seven oil and gas exploratory wells and several seismic profiles into a cross section that covers the western two-thirds of the state.
The 200-mile KY-1 cross section extends from Crittenden County to Lincoln County.
In the 29-page publication, Martin Noger and James Drahovzal interpret relationships of rocks at 3,000 ft or less to those as deep as 30,000 ft.
The publication can be downloaded (www.uky.edu/kgs) or ordered from the survey at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Wyoming
Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s US unit and others plan to drill at least two exploratory wells in 2006 on the Pacific Creek prospect in the Green River basin 20 miles southeast of Jonah gas-condensate field.
Pacific Energy Resources Ltd., Long Beach, Calif., will participate with Shell and Wolverine Gas & Oil Corp., private Grand Rapids, Mich., independent, in exploring the 99,000-acre prospect in Fremont, Sweetwater, and Sublette counties. Pacific Energy funded a $4 million 130 sq mile 3D seismic survey and will operate the two wells to earn interests in the acreage.
