Correction
Several errors occurred in the article, "US Rockies 'discoveries': Analogs for the future," by M. Ray Thomasson and Fred F. Meissner (OGJ, Dec. 10, 2001, pp. 44-50).
References in the article on p. 44 and p. 49 should have described Raton basin coalbed methane as thermogenic, not biogenic, gas.
Fig. 12 on p. 48 shows Raton basin fields in Southeast Colorado and Northeast New Mexico, not New Mexico only as stated in the figure title.
Australia
Gastar Exploration Ltd., Mount Pleasant, Mich., sought permits to drill the first of several 3 to 5 well pilot programs to evaluate the coalbed methane potential of brown coals on its Gippsland basin licenses in Victoria.
The company holds 75% working interest in 2 million acres covering the entire Gippsland basin onshore. Gas in place on the licenses is estimated at 37-57 tcf, and the coals are nearly identical in age and characteristics to those in the Powder River basin, Gastar said.
Gastar said it gathered data on the coals by participating in the shallow portion of two wells drilled by other operators. The company also has coal interests in the Gunnedah basin.
China
CNOOC Ltd. and Sinopec inaugurated development of the Xihu Trough in the East China Sea with formation of a joint management committee and establishment of East China Sea Xihu Trough Oil & Gas Operating Co. CNOOC Ltd. is the operator.
The companies will develop a 59,565-sq-km block 450 km southeast of Shanghai that contains the Chunxiao, Tianwaitian, and Duanqiao gas discoveries and the Canxue oil and gas discovery. They plan phased development of gas fields with first production at end-2004.
Congo (Brazzaville)
Production from Kouakouala oil field onshore near the border with Cabinda should begin to climb shortly with completion of an export pipeline, said Heritage Oil Corp., Calgary.
The field rate, which averaged 1,238 b/d during 2001, should reach four times that by yearend 2002, Heritage said. Oil, of 40° gravity and produced from Vandji sandstone of probable Lower Cretaceous age at 1,550 m, is trucked to the Coraf refinery at Pointe-Noire.
A seismic survey and more drilling are planned on the Kouilou license this year. Heritage plans to spend $7 million or more this year, compared with $2.6 million in 2001, most of it in Congo.
License interests are Maurel & Prom, Paris, 35%, Tacoma Resources Ltd. 35%, and Heritage 30%.
Philippines
Philippine National Oil Co. encountered water and plugged a wildcat in Victoria, Tarlac, north of Manila that initially encountered gas shows.
The well had initially yielded as much as 1 MMcfd, but flow could not be sustained. The company said it is still optimistic on gas prospects in the Central Luzon basin.
Well interests were PNOC-Energy Development Corp. 85% and PNOC-Exploration Corp. 15%.