By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 15 -- Canadian and Indonesian firms have two rigs under contract and plan to begin drilling later this year on a large block in northwestern Libya's Ghadames basin 120 km southwest of Tripoli.
Verenex Energy Inc., Calgary, and PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, Jakarta, hold 6,182-sq-km Area 47 in conjunction with Libya National Oil Corp. (NOC). The group's management committee approved a 2006 budget of $48 million for seismic acquisition, a well workover, and four new wells.
Rotary rigs are to arrive in late third quarter 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. The block has at least 25 exploration prospects and leads. Acquisition of a 3D seismic survey on the southern part of the block started in December 2005 and was to take nearly a year.
Verenex was reconfiguring the 2D component of the program to include leads identified toward the block's eastern boundary on trend between previous Area 47 discoveries B1-70 and A1-NC3A and two recently reported oil discoveries by NOC's Arabian Gulf Oil Co. (Agoco) affiliate. Those discoveries, reported as containing 500 million bbl of oil in place, are near Tlacsin oil field 12 km east of Area 47 (see map, OGJ, Oct. 20, 1997, p. 41).
Area 47 lies a few miles west of the 725-km, 150,000-b/d crude oil pipeline from giant Elephant field in the Murzuk basin to the Mediterranean, which Italy's Eni and others started up in October 2005.
Destined for workover is A1-NC3A, which Agoco drilled in 1998 and estimated to be capable of producing 7,500 b/d of oil from two zones based on drillstem test results.
Verenex said it is the smallest company to have won an exploratory permit in Libya's two bid rounds.
