Indonesia
ExxonMobil Corp.'s Mobil Cepu Ltd. unit planned to start production by 2003 from an oil discovery in Java.
The Banyu Urip 3 well on the onshore Cepu Technical Assistance Contract in Central and East Java provinces identified more than 250 million bbl of "estimated recoverable oil," ExxonMobil said. It encountered nearly 1,000 ft of gross oil and more than 300 ft of gross gas pay and yielded nearly 4,500 b/d from Middle Miocene carbonate and sandstone formations at undisclosed depths.
An early production system will employ 6-10 wells at start-up, followed by staged development.
New Zealand
A 6,800 line km nonexclusive 2D seismic survey is under way in the deepwater part of the Taranaki basin.
The survey will provide a regional grid of data including five well ties onto the shelf, said TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. ASA, Oslo. This will elucidate structural development and help define the size and nature of traps in the frontier region adjacent to Maui gas and condensate field.
Based on data from adjacent basins and new satellite gravity data, the Taranaki deepwater has as much as 10,000 m of Late Mesozoic and Cainozoic section (OGJ, Oct. 23, 2000, p. 33).
TGS is conducting the survey with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences. The government is to offer licenses in the area in early 2002.
Florida
A horizontal well placed on production Dec. 2, 2000, at Southeast Raccoon Point field in the South Florida basin has averaged a net 400 b/d of oil through late March, said Plains Resources Inc., Houston.
Company-wide production in 2000 averaged a restated 24,200 b/d, 94% oil, including 1,900 b/d in Florida. Applying Securities & Exchange Commission Staff Accounting Bulletin 101 caused Plains to reduce reported oil sales volumes by 144,000 bbl for 2000. SAB 101 requires that oil produced but not sold be reported as inventory and stated at historical cost.