By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 1 -- Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Algeria's state-owned Sonatrach, and partners Maersk Olie Algeriet AS—a unit of Denmark's Mærsk Olie & Gas AS—and ENI SPA unit Lasmo Oil (Algeria) Ltd., reported another oil discovery on Block 404 in the Berkine basin in Algeria.
The SFSW-1 (Sif Fatima South West) discovery well is 10 miles south of the recently announced discovery at Hassi Berkine North East (OGJ Online, Feb. 7, 2003), 7 miles east of the producing Hassi Berkine South East field, and north-northeast of Sonatrach's discovery at Sif Fatima.
Anadarko, operator of the field, said the well was drilled to 10,637 ft TD and encountered 36 ft of net oil pay in the TAGI reservoir. The well tested at 2,689 b/d of 47° gravity oil and at 4.72 MMcfd of natural gas, with a flowing tubing pressure of 1,414 psi.
"This new discovery, which follows around 10 other discoveries made during the last 2 years in Algeria, confirms the success of the policy adopted by Sonatrach in partnering with foreign companies in its upstream activities," said Djamel Eddine Khene, Sonatrach's vice-president, exploration and production. "Sonatrach's. . .knowledge of the Algerian mining assets complements the know-how and skills developed by Anadarko in working with these complex geological plays and has led to very encouraging results," he said.
"Exploration activities undertaken with foreign partner associations in Algeria will practically triple in 2003 compared with 2002, and this is set to increase even further over the next few years. As part of this program, several blocks, including offshore exploration blocks, will be put out to tender," he added.
Anadarko also praised the find. "This is our second discovery since resuming our exploration program in October, and we are very encouraged by the results," said Rex Alman III, managing director of Anadarko Algeria Co. "This discovery clearly demonstrates the excellent remaining exploration potential of. . .the Berkine basin."
Alman added, "Over the last 10 years, we have found 14 fields with reserves totaling more than 2 billion bbl of oil. We have extensive experience in the Berkine basin, and we intend to move quickly to bring these latest discoveries onto production using our existing infrastructure."
Anadarko currently is interpreting 1,031 km of 2D seismic data acquired or reprocessed during the past 2 years and the results will aid in the ongoing development of the prospect inventory. In January, the company announced a $98 million capital spending program for 2003 in Algeria, which will focus primarily on exploration and development drilling. In addition to exploration wells planned on Blocks 404 and 208, Anadarko expects to drill or participate in 41 development wells during the year.