Azerbaijan
Units of Italy's ENI spudded an exploratory well on the 550-sq-km Kur Dashi block south of the Kura river delta and 45 km east of Lenkoran.
Partners in the Araz Deniz-1X well are Agip Azerbaijan 25%, Socar Oil Affiliate 50%, Mitsui Kur Dashi Exploration 15%, and Repsol Exploracion and Turkish Petroleum Overseas 5% each. The well is the first of three to be drilled on the block, where water is 10-700 m deep.
The Istiglal semisubmersible is to drill to 4,072 m in 103 m of water.
Greenland
A group led by Statoil plans to spud its first well on the Fylla license off western Greenland in mid-summer (OGJ, Aug. 22, 1994, p. 79).
Quelleq-1 (6354/4-1) is to be drilled on the 9,487 sq km block 150 km west of Nuuk. The dynamically-positioned West Navion drillship is to handle the assignment. Water ranges to 1,200 m deep on Fylla, which is the size of 17 blocks in the North Sea Norwegian sector.
Ireland
A partnership took a 12-month licensing option on parts of three blocks in the Donegal basin on the continental shelf off northwest Ireland.
The option covers Block 13/7, N1/2 Block 13/12, and NE1/4 Block 13/11. Water averages 430 ft deep. Interests are Ramco Oil & Gas Ltd. 70%, Island Petroleum Developments Ltd. 20%, and Sunningdale Oils (Ireland) Ltd. 10%.
Option requirements include interpretation of all existing geophysical data, acquisition of new seismic, and evaluation of a late-1970s Texaco well declared noncommercial.
Ramco holds 37.5% in another option that covers the Seven Heads oil and gas accumulation off Ireland.
Malaysia
The deputy prime minister reported that the country's oil reserves have declined to 3.63 billion bbl and that oil production averages 630,000 b/d.
Malaysia has 231operating oil wells, he told the Bernama news agency.
Poland
Drilling started in the 300,000-acre Radlin area in western Poland.
Polish Oil & Gas Co. and FX Energy Inc., Salt Lake City, expect to be down in May at Kleka-11, a stepout to 39-bcfe Kleka field.
Further drilling in 2000 is to focus on four other 3D seismic prospects on trend with Kaleje and Kleka fields in the Radlin area.
FX said the Radlin work is in addition to wildcats to be drilled this year on each of the Warsaw West, Pomeranian, and Carpathian concessions.
The Wilga-3 appraisal well near the Wilga-2 discovery on the Lublin concession was drilling in late March toward 2,800 m. Four more wells are to be drilled this year. Seismic acquisition was under way to identify drillsites to expand the Wilga reservoir and define other structures on nearby Block 255.
South Africa
Petroleum Agency South Africa, formerly Soekor Petroleum Licensing Unit, let a contract to Schlumberger GeoQuest to migrate E&P data into workstation-based 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.
South Australia
The government opened for application until Oct. 26, 2000, seven exploration blocks totaling 4,057 sq km in the Otway basin.
The blocks, 275-1,585 sq km each, lie between the Adelaide and Melbourne gas and electricity markets.
Two blocks adjoin producing gas fields.
California
Aspen Exploration Corp., Denver, plans to drill one or more wells in the next few months in Malton-Black Butte field, Glenn and Tehama counties.
The company acquired 3D seismic data over its 1,800 net acres in the field, where four wells are producing a combined 5 MMcfd of 1,011-BTU gas from 1,900-4,500 ft. Aspen acquired properties in the field in mid-1998.
Oklahoma
Brigham Exploration Co., Austin, Tex., was starting gas sales from a Pennsylvanian Springer channel sand exploratory well in the Anadarko basin and could drill two offsets.
The 2-17 Price, in Blaine County, flowed 5.56 MMcfd of gas with 450 b/d of condensate with 4,850 psi FTP. The well cut 41 net ft of pay, and 3D seismic interpretive mapping indicates that the reservoir covers 460 acres. TD is 10,300 ft.
Tar-sand potential of four large deposits from among 45 that occur in Carter and Murray counties is the subject of a report published by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Norman.
The 104-page report resulted from a 20-hole coring program, determination of bitumen content, and calculation of in-place bitumen content. The 1983 program was directed at providing information on which more detailed exploration and development efforts might be based.
The report resulted from a US Department of Energy contract. The work is not superseded and has not been published previously by OGS, which had numerous requests for the information in recent months.
Texas
A group led by Venus was spudding the 1 Apache Gas Unit in Constitution field in mid-April. It targets multiple gas reservoirs in Eocene Yegua at 12,500-15,000 ft. Completed well cost is an estimated $3.7 million.
Venus cited new integrated completion technologies it developed as making possible continued development of Constitution field. It conducted a new-type hydraulic frac at 13,910 ft on the 1 Westbury Farms. The well averaged 3.64 MMcfd of gas, 469 b/d of condensate, and 63 b/d of water in March on a 13/64 in. choke with 5,380 psi FTP.
Wyoming
The WBI Holdings Inc. unit of MDU Resources Group., Bismarck, ND, acquired Preston, Reynolds & Co. Inc., Denver, retroactive to Apr. 1, 2000.
Preston, Reynolds through its Redstone Gas Partners LLC subsidiary holds more than 187,000 net acres of leases in the Powder River basin of Wyoming and Montana, where it develops coalbed methane from the Cretaceous. Net reserve potential on the acreage held exceeds 1 tcf.
MDU is retaining existing management at Preston, Reynolds and Redstone.