By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 29 -- The Panama government awarded Circle Oil PLC, Limerick, Ireland, exploration rights to Block A covering 30,000 sq km in the Caribbean Sea off El Porvenir.
The block is in 1,000-3,000 m of water in what Circle Oil refers to as the Colombia basin.
The company will begin interpreting data and plans to run a seismic survey in 2006.
Nearest hydrocarbon production appears to be in the Magdalena Valley of Colombia about 250 miles east of Block A.
No deepwater exploration wells have been drilled on the block, but five Deepsea Drilling Project core holes in the Colombian basin recovered sediments that range in age from Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Maastrichtian) to Tertiary (Paleocene-Pleistocene).
The core holes were drilled in the deeper parts of the basin where the sediments were thin. Sediment thickness increases nearer to shore and around the Costa Rica and Magdalena fans.
Panama has no oil or gas production.
Circle Oil also holds interests in Namibia and Oman.
