China
CNOOC Ltd. spudded a wildcat in Qiongdongnan basin in the South China Sea.
The 15-1-1 well, 185 km east of Wenchang County in Hainan Province, will be drilled to 1,455 m. Qiongdongnan is a gas-prone basin.
Egypt
Centurion Energy International Inc., Calgary, spudded the Gelgel-1 exploration well on the El Manzala concession in Egypt in late July.
The target is gas in the Pliocene Kafr El Sheikh formation. TD is to be 1,200 m. Centurion operates and holds 100% working interest in the 420,000-acre concession.
Italy
ENI SpA farmed out a 30% working interest in the Civita permit to JKX Oil & Gas PLC, London, subject to ministry approval.
ENI operates the 277 sq km permit south of Pescara near the Adriatic coast across the peninsula from Rome.
Existing facilities could handle production because the permit lies adjacent to an ENI producing concession.
Peru
Perez Companc, based in Argentina, signed a preliminary agreement for an exploration and production license for Block 99 in the Ucayali basin.
The block borders Brazil. Regulatory approval is pending.
Turkmenistan
Dragon Oil PLC, London, was to spud a second well soon on the LAM 22 platform in the southeastern Caspian Sea and a third well by yearend.
The company's LAM 22-101 in the Cheleken Contract Area flowed at rates of as much as 18 MMcfd of gas and 1,750 b/d of condensate at 4,100 psi on a 33/64 in. choke from perforations at 3,139-3,254 m. Several intervals remained to be tested later in the 1,503-m gross, 310-m net reservoir section.
Capacity of the 4 in. flow line limited the flow, and a 10 in. line is being installed.
Alaska
The state was to conduct North Slope and Beaufort Sea lease sales Oct. 24 in Anchorage.
It will offer 1,225 North Slope tracts covering 5.1 million acres between the Canning River and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the east and the Colville River and National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the west. The southern boundary is the Umiat Meridian baseline, and the northern border the Beaufort Sea coastline.
The Beaufort Sea areawide sale will offer 573 tidal and submerged tracts totaling nearly 2 million acres between the Canadian border and Point Barrow.
