Former US Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt announced Jan. 18 that he had deferred proposed oil and natural gas Lease Sale 176 in the Beaufort Sea. The sale was originally scheduled for early 2002. The decision to defer the lease sale was based upon insufficient time to complete a thorough review of an environmental analysis. Areas under consideration for Lease Sale 176 are adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, near Teshekpuk Lake and in areas of Native Alaskan interest.
Lundin Oil AB of Sweden said its wholly owned subsidiary International Petroleum Libya Ltd. plugged and abandoned the E1 well on Area NC177 in Libya at 7,800 ft. The well penetrated the main targets, the Gir and Zelten Carbonates. Neither contained commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. Lundin said the well concludes its exploration commitments in the NC177 area.
Harken Energy Corp., Irving, Tex., on Tuesday began drilling operations on the Estero No. 2 well on the 102,000-acre Alcaravan Association contract block in the Llanos basin of Colombia. The well will take up to 30 days to drill to 8,700 ft, said Harken. It targets the Ubaque formation that is productive in Estero No. 1.
Harken Energy Corp. has begun drilling operations on its second exploratory well, the Manantial No. 1, on the 41,000 acre Cambulos Association contract block in the Middle Magdalena Valley of Colombia. The well is designed to test the Hoyon formation. It has a projected depth of 3,500 ft. The well will take up to 30 days to drill.
Indo-Pacific Energy Ltd. plugged and abandoned the Ratapiko-1 wildcat in Taranaki, New Zealand. It said gas showings in several sandstones did not justify completing the well. The rig is being moved to the Goldie-1 well site in the Ngatoro oil field permit area 38148, about 1 mile from the Ngatoro-1 oil pool and the Kaimiro-10 oil pool.
Statoil has found hydrocarbons in well 30/3-8, drilled from the Veslefrikk A platform on License 52 in the Norwegian North Sea. The well reached 6,208 m and found hydrocarbons in several Middle Jurassic sandstone intervals. The company is considering production-testing the well.
Oiltec Resources Ltd., Calgary, will earn a 30% interest in the Clarke area of northeastern British Columbia from Tikal Resources Corp. by paying 50% of the $2 million (Can.) cost to drill a horizontal gas well in the area. The target is a Keg River reef at 2,400 m. The well is expected to be spudded in the first quarter.
Brazilian company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it found evidence of oil in the 1-BRSA-33-ESS well at an interval at 2,814-2,900 m. Water depth on location in the Campos basin off Rio de Janeiro state is 1,245 m. The well will be drilled to 3,824 m.
Esenjay Exploration Inc. said Riser No. 3 well in the Wilcox trend in Live Oak County, Tex., tested at to 13.9 MMcfd of gas from two Wilcox sections. The No. 3 is in Esenjay's 32-sq mile Mikeska 3D seismic project.
TotalFinaElf SA began development work on structure B of Block 137, an oil field 100 km off Libya in 90 m of water. It was discovered in 1975 and confirmed in 1998. TFE is operator with 37.5%, Libyan National Oil Corp. holds 50%, and Wintershall AG, 12.5%. The development plan calls for oil production start up in early 2003 from a platform connected to a floating storage and offloading vessel. Production is expected to plateau at 35,000 b/d.
Petro-Canada, Calgary, says it postponed spudding a wildcat well in the Mackenzie Delta Arctic region because of insufficient ice. The deep gas test, to be drilled 78 miles north of Inuvik, was scheduled to start Feb. 1 but will be postponed for 2 weeks. The temperature in Inuvik recently was 1deg C, compared with a seasonal average of 29deg C.
Americomm Resources Corp., Tulsa, said its Timber Draw No. 1-AH horizontal test well in the Powder River Basin, Wyo., flowed 10.5 MMcfd of gas and 100 bbl/hr of 44 API oil. Empire Petroleum Corp., as operator of the test well, plans to continue drilling the horizontal section to 2,000-4,000 ft. After drilling is complete, the well will be tested for production.
Ness Energy International Inc. said it and partners in its Dead Sea project plan to reprocess eight lines of seismic data and shoot one new line before drilling begins. The seismic work should be complete by May 1, and re-entry and diagonal drilling of Har-Sedom No. 1 should begin by June 1. Drilling was previously expected by Dec. 25 (OGJ Online, Oct. 12, 2000).
