Albania
Bankers Petroleum Ltd., Calgary, agreed to acquire 50% of a private company that holds the exclusive right to evaluate and redevelop Kucova heavy oil field in south-central Albania.
The private company, Privatco, has an agreement with state Albpetrol ShA and a license from Albania’s National Agency of National Resources. The terms of the petroleum agreement are basically the same as those that govern Bankers’ agreement for Patos-Marinza oil field.
The deal is to close soon, and Bankers has until June 30, 2008, to exercise an option to acquire the other 50% interest.
Original oil in place at Kucova was 490 million bbl of 17° gravity oil, of which about 6% has been produced. Kucova is geologically similar to Patos-Marinza, with multiple stacked sandstone reservoirs at 150-1,400 m with oil of various gravities.
Kucova, 30 km northeast of Patos-Marinza, averaged 400 b/d at the end of 2006. It was discovered in 1928 and has more than 1,700 wells.
Redevelopment by Bankers would involve updating surface and downhole equipment, wellbore stimulations, recompletions, waterflooding, and thermal recovery.
Falkland Islands
Prospects identified from 850 sq km of 2007 3D seismic on PL032 and PL033 in the North Falkland basin could contain a mean 1.9 billion bbl recoverable, estimated directors of Rockhopper Exploration PLC.
Other leads are under investigation, and prospects identified on PL023 and PL024 could have an estimated 2.5 billion bbl recoverable.
The new mapping identified five hydrocarbon plays on the acreage and confirmed the presence of multiple drilling targets.
The 3D seismic also revealed that one of the exploration wells Shell drilled in 1998—which among other oil shows encountered a thin sand with good hydrocarbon shows—is located at the edge of a fan prospect that appears to thicken towards its center. The directors believe that this thicker part of the fan prospect could contain commercially viable hydrocarbon accumulations.
Rockhopper plans to conduct AVO analysis, imaging studies, geochemical modeling, further detailed log analysis, depth conversion, and reservoir modeling.
Niger
Security situation permitting, CNPC International (Tenere) Ltd. plans to shoot seismic and drill the Facai-1 exploratory well in May to test a Cretaceous play in the northeastern Tenere rift basin in Niger.
The location is 100 km north of the Saha-1 and Fachi West-1 wells drilled in 2007. Facai-1 is to test the Cretaceous Donga formation and synrift sandstones, equivalent to those found at the base of Saha-1, in a faulted anticlinal trap.
The seismic program is expected to target Cretaceous and another newly identified play and to mature other prospects and provide infill on play trends in the sparsely controlled subbasin north of Facai-1, said 20% interest holder TG World Energy Corp., Calgary.
The other play is a shallower Cretaceous sand east of the deeper Cretaceous sand fairway to be tested by Facai-1.
Manitoba
Tundra Oil & Gas Ltd., private Winnipeg operator, plans to unitize and waterflood Sinclair oil field in the Williston basin in southwestern Manitoba and might inject carbon dioxide later.
Tundra, which has a 36-well pilot waterflood in 4-8-29w1 and 9-8-29w1, plans to Tundra hopes to complete unitization by the end of February and start water injection at the end of May in a 192-well program on 12 sq miles. That will include eight wells owned by Crown Point Ventures Ltd., Vancouver, BC, in 15-8-29w1.
Recovery is expected to grow from 10% of OOIP by primary means to as much as 20% with waterflooding and 30% or more with CO2 and waterflooding, Crown Point said.
A future expansion could include Crown Point’s eight wells in 3-9-29w1.
Utah
Thunderbird Energy Corp., Calgary, acquired 50% working interest in a 5,000-acre land package adjacent and north of the company’s producing Gordon Creek gas field in central Utah.
The property roughly doubles Thunderbird’s land position.
Gordon Creek field, with four producing and six shut-in wells, a gathering-compression system, and more than 10 km of pipeline, is upstructure from Drunkards Wash, Utah’s largest gas field and largest coalbed methane field.
