Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. (CanOxy), Calgary, has been awarded another exploration block in Colombia.
The El Descanso block covers 90,000 net acres in the Upper Magdalena Basin. It is immediately north of the Boqueron Block where CanOxy�s Guando oil discovery is located.
The El Descanso award gives the company four exploratory blocks on the Guando trend, totalling almost 1 million undeveloped acres. It received two other blocks earlier this year (OGJ Online, Aug. 1, 2000).
CanOxy has a 50% interest in El Descanso�which is operated by Petrobas Colombia Ltd.�a 40% interest in Boqueron, and 100% in the Villarrica and Fusa blocks.
Two wells in the Guando block are currently producing more than 1,000 b/d of crude and a third is nearing completion. A 3D seismic program is under way over Guando, and up to four delineation wells are planned this year.
CanOxy says a preliminary estimate of oil in place at Guando is 1.4 billion bbl, with recovery levels averaging 20-40%.
The company says discovery of the Guando field demonstrates an extensive working hydrocarbon system in this area of Colombia. A number of Guando-type leads and other plays have been identified.