Chechen Republic
The government launched a tender for operation of the republic's 22 oil fields.
The offer is to close Jan. 10, 2002, the Ministry of Natural Resources said.
Grozneftegaz, a recently established state company, is maintaining the fields until the tender can be completed. The fields are believed to contain a combined 400 million bbl of reserves and are producing a combined 22,000 b/d.
Guyana
CGX Energy Inc., Toronto, said that following a worldwide search it has amassed a comprehensive collection of new and vintage seismic data that it will use for a regional assessment of the Guyana-Suriname basin.
The company said it is reprocessing 3,300 line km of data shot by Deminex in 1973-76 to identify evidence that may support an extension of the Wishbone/Eagle turbidite trend onto the northwestern "annex" portion of its concession.
CGX noted that joint national border commissions of Guyana and Suriname planned further talks in mid-November regarding disputed maritime borders.
Iraq
JSC Slavneft, Moscow, signed a contract to develop Luhais oil field west of giant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq.
The Russian-Belarus joint stock company is to start work late next year. The contract with the oil ministry calls for Slavneft to drill 25 wells and export the oil via Persian Gulf ports. Other provisions call for the drilling of wells in Nahr Umr and Zubair oil fields.
Italy
BG Group PLC is to sell its Italian exploration subsidiary BG Rimi SpA to CPL Concordia Soc. Coop. ARL of Modena for 34 billion lire, OGJ Online reported.
The noncore assets include nine exploration permits and 18 production concessions. BG is keeping 12 exploration licenses in the Po Valley and Sicily Channel. They have been transferred to BG Italia SpA.
BG Rimi had net gas production of 72 million cu m in 2000.
BG Italia said it will concentrate on larger exploration prospects in the Po Valley and the Sicily Channel with partners ENI SpA and Edison SpA. It is also promoting a $300 million LNG import terminal in Brindisi that could start up in 2006.
Mexico
Pemex Exploration and Production Co. let a 1 year contract to Radarsat International Inc., Richmond, B.C., to establish a maritime surveillance strategy for the Gulf of Mexico.
The Radarsat-1 satellite will provide offshore oil seep exploration and environmental vigilance in support of Pemex's Marine North East Region. The companies last year ran a successful pilot program that used satellite imagery to identify oil spills from vessels, platforms, and seeps.
Morocco
Onarep awarded Kerr-McGee Corp. a 1 year reconnaissance permit along the Atlantic margin.
Kerr-McGee's permit covers the 110,057 sq km Boujdour deepwater block in as much as 10,000 ft of water. The block, which encompasses three known geologic basins, lies between Tarfaya and Ad Dakhla, off disputed Western Sahara.
TotalFinaElf won reconnaissance rights to the 114,556 sq km Dakhla offshore block, south of Boujdour.
New Zealand
Shell (Petroleum Mining) Co. Ltd. ran a seismic survey on PEP 38511 off the western South Island southwest of Greymouth in its first venture outside the Taranaki basin in many years.
Shell paid more than $1 million to acquire the data under an option to acquire a 100% working interest in the permit from the operator, Thomasson International Ventures Inc., Denver. Thomasson would retain a royalty interest.
The permit area has some geological similarities to the Taranaki and Gippsland basins, Shell said.
Fletcher Challenge Energy Ltd. started up Mangahewa field in the Taranaki basin in early September.
Gas flowed to Methanex Corp.'s nearby Motunui methanol plant through facilities with capacity of 35 MMcfd of gas and 600 b/d of condensate.
Mangahewa, on PEP 38705, is thought to hold 98 bcf. Flow is expected to decline from 2006-10.
Sudan
Lundin Petroleum AB, Stockholm, plans to drill two appraisal wells near the Thar Jath oil discovery and at least one wildcat on Block 5A starting in late 2001. The company hopes to complete a conceptual development study on Thar Jath by early 2002.
Lundin holds 40.375% of Block 5A and 24.5% of Block 5B in southern Sudan, which together cover about half of the Muglad basin. The basin's total reserve potential is estimated at 10-15 billion bbl.
Yemen
Pakistan Oilfields Ltd. and its parent, Attock Oil Co. Ltd., formed a joint venture with MOL Yemen Oil & Gas (Cyprus) Ltd., a subsidiary of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, to explore two onshore blocks.
One block covers 5,055 sq km and the other 2,788 sq km. They are in the southern part of the Sir-Sayun and Marib areas (OGJ, June 4, 2001, p. 68).
Washington
Rival Resources Inc., a unit of Epic Oil & Gas Ltd., Vancouver, let a contract for a soil gas survey in Whatcom County.
ChemTerra International Consultants Ltd., Calgary, will collect and analyze 500 samples collected from 1 m deep and 100 m apart over undisclosed target areas. The technique is capable of identifying gas deposits as deep as several thousand feet, Epic said.
Epic said it is acquiring oil and gas leases in the Bellingham basin and that Rival plans to drill there this winter.
