India�s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has a gas discovery at well KD-1-1 in the deep water of Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast of India. The well is in 844 m of water. ONGC�s rig Sagar Vijay spudded the well June 27. Gas was found Nov. 18-19 at 2,525 m from mean sea level. The well flowed 400,000 cu m/day through a 1/2-in. choke. ONGC plans to drill another well shortly on a separate fault block on the same structure.
McMoRan Exploration Co., New Orleans, reported 80 ft of gross hydrocarbon pay in the Main Pass Block 86 No. 1 well, with 40-50 ft of net hydrocarbon pay between 9,910-9,990 ft. The well was drilled to 10,500 ft and will be saved for future production. McMoRan holds a 71.3% working interest and 51.3% net revenue interest in the well. Ocean Energy Inc. is operator, with 25% working interest. An unnamed investor holds the remaining 3.7% working interest. The Main Pass 86 discovery is in 69 ft of water, 60 miles off Louisiana.
McMoRan Exploration Co. also reported 75 ft of net hydrocarbon pay in three sands between 14,000-14,290 ft in its Eugene Island Block 97 No. 1 wildcat. The well was drilled to 17,030 ft and will be saved for future production. McMoRan plans to drill additional wells to evaluate the discovery. Ocean Energy Inc. is operator, with 35% working interest; McMoRan holds a 38% working interest and a 27.4% net revenue interest; and Samedan Oil Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Noble Affiliates Inc., holds a 25% percent working interest. An undisclosed investor holds the remaining 2%. The Eugene Island 97 discovery is in 27 ft of water, 25 miles off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.
Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, plans to spud three wildcats in Sudan's Heglig region this year. Nigel Hares, vice-president of international operations, said the wells will be started before yearend. Talisman has a 25% interest in 12 million acres that have proven reserves of 850 million bbl. Heglig is producing about 200,000 b/d of crude that is shipped by pipeline to Port Sudan for export. Other partners in the Greater Nile Oil Project are China National Petroleum Corp., Petronas�the Malaysia state oil company�and the Sudan government.
Isramco Inc. said Tilapia-Land-1, drilled in the Republic of Congo, reached 6,500 ft TD, after which logs were run. Based on those results, partners in the well decided to conduct a production test. The equal partners are Naphtha Israel Petroleum Corp. and Isramco.
