EXPLORATION/DEVELOPMENT BRIEFS

Jan. 10, 2011
Colombia

Petroamerica Oil Corp., Calgary, will acquire participating interests from a Talisman Energy Inc. unit in four Llanos basin exploratory blocks in Colombia.

Cepsa Colombia SA operates the Los Ocarros, El Sancy, El Porton, and El Eden blocks, which cover more than 441,000 acres gross in a prospective trend. In El Porton, results from the Calatea-1 well are expected by early 2011.

Petroamerica will pay Talisman (Colombia) Oil & Gas Ltd. $18 million to earn a 25% participating interest in El Porton and 50% interests in Los Ocarros and El Sancy. Petroamerica will earn its 25% interest in El Eden, excluding the Chiriguaro-1 discovery, after paying Talisman's 50% share to a cap of $7.85 million to drill one exploratory well at a future date.

Transfer of rights in all four blocks is subject to approval by the Colombian National Hydrocarbon Regulatory Authority ANH.

Colombia

Repsol Exploracion Colombia will assume a 30% share in the 4 million acre Tayrona exploration block in the Caribbean off Colombia.

Petrobras Colombia Ltd., which has 40% interest, will continue as operator. Colombia's state Ecopetrol SA has 30%. Repsol's inclusion is subject to National Hydrocarbon Agency approval.

Ecopetrol said the block "comprises a part of the projects under way off Colombia's Caribbean coast, where Ecopetrol is moving forward with exploration activities with other partners."

The Tayrona block is covered by a hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation contract signed with ANH in mid-2004.

Falkland Islands

Desire Petroleum PLC plugged the 25/5-1 exploratory well on the Dawn/Jacinta prospect after it encountered gas shows in the North Falkland basin in the South Atlantic.

The well went to a total depth of 1,697 m in prerift sediments. The well found gas shows around 1,434 m. Lithology at 1,313-1,697 m is mainly claystone and good quality sandstone with 71 m of net reservoir based on initial log analysis.

The Dawn well tested a large fault block at the main basin southern margin 28 km from previous well control and had primary reservoir targets in the synrift and prerift (see map, OGJ, Nov. 1, 2010, p. 61). These targets are stratigraphically older than the reservoirs in the East Flank play.

The implication of the well results for remaining prospectivity in this part of the basin will be assessed once the new data has been integrated and all postwell studies are completed, Desire said.

The rig will transfer to Rockhopper Exploration PLC to drill one or two wells, subject to regulatory approval, before returning to Desire to drill a well at a location still to be finalized and subject to regulatory approval.

Greenland

Cairn Energy PLC has secured two rigs to handle its 2011 exploratory drilling program off Greenland, where the company plans to drill as many as four wells (see map, OGJ, Aug. 24, 2009, p. 38).

The dynamically positioned units are the Leiv Eiriksson fifth generation semisubmersible the Ocean Rig Corcovado sixth generation drillship.

To provide the immediate liquidity required to enable the group to sign the contracts, Cairn entered into a $900 million standby secured revolving debt facility that will also provide funding for general corporate purposes.

Morocco

Circle Oil PLC said its KSR-10 well on the Sebou permit in Morocco's Rharb basin is a multipay gas discovery that is available for production when needed.

The well sustained 10.6 MMscfd on a 20⁄64-in. choke from the Main Hoot. The perforated Main Hoot zone of 8.4 m at 1,736.6-1,728.2 m measured depth plus a 1.5- m zone at 1,720.0-1,718.5 m MD has 9.9 m of calculated net gas pay.

The Mid Hoot zone was then perforated and flowed gas at a sustained 2.39 MMscfd on a 16⁄64-in. choke. The perforated Mid Hoot zone at 1,650.5-1,649.7 m MD plus 1,647.6-1,646.8 m MD has 1.6 m of calculated net gas pay.

The well also logged gas pay zones of 4.4, 3.1, and 1.4 m in the Lower, Middle, and Upper Guebbas. Testing of the Lower Guebbas encountered problems and was inconclusive. The three Guebbas zones be tested later.

The rig is moving to drill ADD-1, fourth well in the planned five-well program in the area. Then the KSR-11 well will be drilled and the DRJ-6 well from the previous drilling campaign will be tested.

Weather permitting, the KAB-1 well, drilled in September 2010, will be reentered for logging or be redrilled.

Norway

Eni Norge AS, operator of Production License 489 in the Barents Sea off Norway, will plug the 7120/12-5 wildcat as a dry hole even though it encountered rocks of reservoir quality.

The well, in 187 m of water 50 km west of Goliat field and 115 km northwest of Hammerfest, was drilled to search for hydrocarbons in Jurassic and Triassic reservoir rocks of the Sto, Snadd, and Kobbe formations.

It encountered rocks of medium reservoir quality in the Sto and Snadd formations, but the Kobbe formation was poorer than expected.

The well, first on the license, was classified as dry. Comprehensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out, said the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

The well went to a true vertical depth of 3,605 m below sea level. Drilling stopped 60 m into the Kobbe formation.

The Polar Pioneer rig will move to PL 488 in the Barents where Statoil Petroleum AS will drill the 7119/12-4 wildcat.

Pakistan

Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. issued a letter of award to NXT Energy Solutions Inc., Calgary, for a stress field detection airborne survey in Pakistan.

Total estimated value of the survey, which is to begin in the first quarter of 2011, is $2.66 million. NXT did not disclose the location or extent of the survey.

Award of the contract is subject to execution of a definitive contract and submission by NXT of a 10% performance bond.

Russia

TGS NOPEC Geophysical Co. has signed a 3-year sales, marketing, and 2D seismic cooperation agreement with Dalmornefte Geophysica Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Arctic region east and west of the Bering Strait off Russia.

The agreement includes industry-funded 2D operations performed in Russian waters in the third quarter of 2010 that will serve as a foundation for additional work in 2011 and 2012.

It is important for TGS to return to the Arctic region and add data coverage in an area that is believed to hold huge hydrocarbon volumes, TGS NOPEC said.

Tunisia

Cooper Energy Ltd. has spud the Menzel Horr-1 exploratory well on the Bargou block onshore Tunisia.

The prospect is a thrust-related, dip-closed structure that has the potential for hydrocarbons at multiple reservoir horizons, said Jacka Resources Ltd., which is earning a 15% equity interest in the block via a farm-out from Cooper Energy.

The well is expected to encounter the key target formations 10-25 days after spud. The Hammamet West-3 appraisal well is to be drilled on the block in mid-2011.

110104-ap-Ukraine-Karlavskoye-AD

Ukraine

Transeuro Energy Corp., Vancouver, BC, is drilling the Karl-101 sidetrack well in Karlavskoye field in Ukraine's western Crimea area.

Discovered in 1966, the field is developed with nine wells that produced gas-condensate from multiple Upper Cretaceous reservoirs at 2,700-3,500 m. Seismic data suggest the field area extends 10 by 3 km.

Transeuro drilled the Karl-101 well to 3,500 m in 2007-08 but a well control incident led to the reservoir section being abandoned and the well was suspended in November 2008 at 2,750 m.

More than 100 m of net gas-bearing reservoir was identified from logs and gas samples at 2,800-3,500 m. The company will test five intervals.

Louisiana

A horizontal 3D seismic prospect at North Bayou Jack field in eastern Avoyelles Parish, La., is flowing oil and gas from Cretaceous Austin chalk despite mechanical problems.

The Deshotels 20-H-1 well at Turner Bayou is flowing 600 b/d of oil and 500 Mcfd of gas through a 20⁄64-in. choke from 640 ft of perforations in a 3,755-ft horizontal leg in the chalk at 16,400 ft true vertical depth, said Pryme Oil & Gas Ltd., Brisbane, which owns 40% of the working interest. Nelson Energy Inc., private Shreveport independent, operates the well.

The rate is not believed to be an indication of the well's production potential, Pryme said. The companies planned to acidize each of 20 perforated intervals to recover residual cement and enhance communication between the perforated intervals and the oil and gas bearing fracture zones.

Progress with the acidizing procedure has been impeded by the mechanical failure of packers used to selectively isolate each perforated zone and ensure that the acid is directed to the most relevant areas.

As a result, Pryme said, "it appears that the perforated zones that would benefit most from acidizing have not been effectively treated and oil and gas production to date is adversely affected. The acidizing procedure has been temporarily suspended pending a revised remediation plan and the securing of appropriate services."

Meanwhile, production facilities are being installed, probably in the next 3 weeks, after which a comprehensive flow test will be carried out.

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