Argentina
La Pampa Province awarded the Gobernador Ayala III exploration concession in the Neuquen basin to Petro Andina Resources Inc., private Calgary firm.
The 82,800-acre block, adjacent to the south boundary of company operated CNQ-7/A area, brings Petro Andina’s land position in the Centenario Trend to 285,000 net acres.
Petro Andina signed an agreement with Argentina’s state Enarsa and another Argentina company under which Petro Andina is operator with 70% working interest and the other parties share the other 30%.
Petro Andina mapped an extension of its El Corcobo Norte field onto GAIII and plans to drill as many as 10 appraisal and exploration wells on the new block in 2007 and shoot a 3D seismic survey in the fourth quarter. The 2-year work commitment totals 25 wells.
Kazakhstan
Arawak Energy Corp., Anguilla, British West Indies, plans to acquire retroactive to Jan. 1, 2007, Saigak Investments BV, which owns 40% of mostly developed Saigak oil field in the Aktyubinsk area of western Kazakhstan.
Seller is Vitol BV, which owns Saigak Investments. Vitol holds 38.15% of Arawak through Rosco SA.
Maersk Oil Kazakhstan Gmbh operates Saigak field, at which four wells produce 3,500 b/d of sweet, 33-37° gravity oil from 14.6 million bbl of original recoverable reserves from multiple formations at 2,000 m. The oil is exported.
The field contract, signed in 1992, is valid until 2017 with possible extensions.
Production is expected to drop at 15%/year the next 5 years without investment, but later optimizations may arrest the decline.
Tanzania
Tanzanian authorities approved farmout by Aminex PLC, Dublin, of a 25% interest in the 1,400 sq km Nyuni-East Songo Songo PSA area in the Indian Ocean off Tanzania.
RAK Gas, incorporated in the United Arab Emirate of Ras al Khaimah, will pay 37.5% of the cost of two wells on the block to earn the 25% interest. RAK Gas has other exploration and production efforts under way in Tanzania.
Post-farmout interests are Aminex’s Ndovu Resources Ltd., operator, 39%, Key Petroleum Ltd., RAK Gas 25%, East Africa Exploration Co. Ltd. 10%, and Bounty Oil & Gas Ltd. 6%.
The Caroil-6 rig is to drill two wells back to back on the block this year, the first of which is to be a directional well from Killiwani Island 1 km southwest of Songo Songo Island.