Italy
Hardman Resources NL, Perth, planned to case to 600 m of 7-in. casing and test the Colombo-1 wildcat 17 km south of Rome.
Evaluation of wireline logs indicated possible net thickness of gas-bearing sandstones within Liguridi flysch (Lower Pliocene) at 377-403 m, the company said. Prior to drilling, estimates were that 35 bcf might be recoverable from the structure.
The site is on the Fiume Tevere Permit. Interests are Hardman/Planet Oil 40%, JKX Oil & Gas PLC 30%, Italmin Exploration SRL 20%, and Northern Petroleum PLC 10%.
Libya
Lundin Oil AB plans to resume exploratory drilling in July with two wildcats on Block NC 177 in the southern Sirte basin.
Early results from 400 km of 2D seismic are encouraging, and a 3D survey is under way over En Naga North and West field, where consulting engineers raised the estimate of reserves to 100 million bbl of oil.
Production is to start at 16,500 b/d in first quarter 2001.
Portugal
Drilling was starting in early April on the Aljubarrota-3 appraisal well in the Lusitanian basin at what could become the country's first commercial hydrocarbon production. Projected TD is 2,400 m.
The group led by Mohave Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, will use underbalanced foam drilling and run open hole tests on any gas shows, said Desire Petroleum PLC, London, 25% interest holder. Site is 3 km northeast of the Aljubarrota-2 discovery, which flowed gas on drillstem tests from Jurassic Brenha fractured limestones and dolomites.
South Africa
Petroleum Agency SA, formerly Soekor Petroleum Licensing Unit, let a 3-year contract to Schlumberger GeoQuest to migrate E&P data into workstation-base management systems.
The data include 250,000 line km of seismic data, cuttings and samples from more than 250 wells, more than 10,000 technical reports, about 10 km of core, and around 200,000 slides.
Newfoundland
Canadian Imperial Venture Corp., St. John's, was starting static gradient and other pressure tests at the Port au Port 1 oil and gas discovery well in western Newfoundland.
The well flowed 51 degrees gravity oil from 50 ft of pay in Middle Ordovician in 1995. Combined maximum rates were 3,270 b/d of oil and 4.9 MMcfd of gas from two intervals. The field is named Garden Hill.
CIVC operates the well on an 84,000-acre permit under agreements with Hunt Overseas Operating Co. and PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.
California
Continental Operating Co. started gas sales Apr. 9 from the 1 Cygnus in Denverton Creek field, Solano County, in the Sacramento basin.
Rate was 3.5 MMcfd of 1,120-BTU gas, 25 b/d of condensate, and 12 b/d of water with 3,900 psi FTP from Peterson sand perforations at an undisclosed depth. TD is about 11,000 ft.
Aspen Exploration Corp., Denver, which acquired an 11.9% working interest in the well, said it cut 80 ft of potential net pay in Starkey and Peterson.
Georgia
Atlantic Oil & Gas LLC, Perry, Ga., was drilling a wildcat in Dooly County.
The 1 Ledford, 7 miles northeast of Vienna, was projected to 5,000 ft and was spudded in early April, IHS Energy Group reported. Georgia has no hydrocarbon production.
The drill site appears to be in the South Georgia basin, one of a string of Mesozoic basins along the US east coast (OGJ, Oct. 12, 1987, p. 57).
Michigan
Midland Cogeneration Venture, the state's largest gas user, marked 10 years of service on Mar. 16.
Supplied by 20 gas producing companies and affiliates, mostly under long-term contracts, the plant has burned 800 bcf of gas, Michigan Oil & Gas News reported. The 12 gas-fired and two steam turbines have produced 85 billion kw-h of electricity and 49 billion lb. of steam.
The facility is capable of supplying almost 10% of the electricity used in the Lower Peninsula.
South Texas
McMullen County has its first horizontal well in Cretaceous Edwards.
Abraxas Petroleum Corp., San Antonio, tested the 1 Henry, near Tilden, Tex., from a horizontal interval at 10,865-11,273 ft. It flowed 4.5 MMcfd of gas with 25 b/d of 51.1