Houston operators reported progress at oil field developments in three areas of Colombia. Pipeline connections or capacity constraints figure in most of the projects.
Ecopetrol authorized Seven Seas Petroleum Inc., Houston, and its association contract partners to develop Guaduas (Emerald Mountain) oil and gas field 60 miles northwest of Bogota in the Middle Magdalena basin on a sole-risk basis.
Seven Seas will seek financing for a 25,000 b/d project that will involve construction of production facilities and a 36-mile connection to the OAM pipeline at La Dorada.
Once final permits are received, the firm will truck 4,000-6,000 b/d of oil, generating its first sustained cash flow. Seven Seas gave no start-up time frame. The Cretaceous Cimarrona reservoir at 6,000-7,500 ft contains 18-20° gravity, low sulfur oil and as much as 1 tcf of gas.
Guaduas field has 13 wells, including six that have been production tested at individual rates of 3,415 to 13,123 b/d and three as yet untested. Outside engineers estimated Seven Seas' net proved reserves attributable to 12,640 acres at 34.9 million bbl at yearend 1999 and gross field reserves at 154 million bbl.
The field has produced 790,000 bbl of oil on well tests, including 400,000 bbl of oil in fourth quarter 1999. It has been shut-in since then for a pressure build-up test.
Seven Seas also has its eye on subthrust exploration of Tertiary and repeated Upper Cretaceous targets as deep as 18,000 ft on the Dindal and Rio Seco blocks.
Ecopetrol elected to assume a 50% interest in the project after Seven Seas 57.7% and partners MTV Investments LP of Oklahoma 9.4% and Chile's Sipetrol 32.9% recoup their costs.
The companies have acquired and processed 128 sq km of 3D seismic data and 254 km of 2D data over the field.
Meanwhile, Harken Energy Corp.'s net Colombian production totaled 124,000 bbl in the first quarter ended Mar. 31, up 61% on the year.
Harken in April reported having produced its 1 millionth gross barrel of oil in Colombia since 1998.
The company's production comes mainly from the Olivo-1and Catalina-1 wells on the Bolivar Association Contract in the Middle Magdalena basin and Estero-1 on the Alcaravan Association Contract in the Llanos basin.
The horizontal Olivo-1 and Catalina-1 were drilled in 1998. Olivo produces from the vertically-fractured La Luna formation and Catalina produces from the vertically-fractured Rosa Blanca formation.
Harken has been trucking production from Bolivar, on which it has applied for commerciality. The company in March announced plans to install a flow line from the field sometime in the next few months.
At Alcaravan, Estero-1 flowed more than 4,000 b/d of oil from the Ubaque formation in April 1997.
