Brazil
A Petrobras group said early tests confirmed light oil potential of the western extent of the Tupi-Iracema accumulation in the deepwater Santos basin off Brazil.
Wireline tests at the Tupi W well, in 2,139 m of water on the BM-S-11 block 11 km northwest of the Tupi discovery well, confirmed 28° gravity oil in presalt reservoirs at the western extreme of the Tupi Evaluation Plan Area. The reservoir is 90 m thick at this location.
If formation tests scheduled in coming months meet with success, the group will consider dedicating a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to the Tupi W area.
The final evaluation of volumes for the Tupi-Iracema area was being formulated and was to be released at the end of December.
Petrobras is operator with 65% interest. BG Group has 25%, and Portugal's Galp Energia has 10%.
Colombia
Alange Energy Corp., Toronto, will appraise and may horizontally drill an unexpected heavy oil accumulation in the Cretaceous Lower Rumiyaco formation at the Topoyaco-2 exploratory well on the 60,034-acre Topoyaco block in Colombia's Putumayo basin.
A zone at 7,532-7,624 ft that appears to be the Rumiyaco tested at 310 b/d of 10.5° gravity oil with 20% basic sediment and water on an electric submersible pump. Rumiyaco has 48 ft of net pay. TD is 8,700 ft.
The company will drill a new well to the deeper Villeta and Caballos, the intended targets in Topoyaco-2. Overall, Topoyaco-2 cut 114 ft of net pay sand and 125 ft of oil-saturated carbonates.
The definitive stratigraphic model will have to be validated by a thorough geological evaluation to encompass correlations with blocks to the south and northeast, Alange Energy said.
The company will start drilling Prospect D, the block's most important objective, late in the 2011 first quarter targeting the subthrust.
Topoyaco-1 on Prospect B penetrated the whole sedimentary column of interest, reaching the Saldana formation in the Paleozoic. Alange Energy, operator with 50% working interest, plans to run an ESP to start production testing in the next week. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. has the other 50%.
China
The ZJS-02 well in the downthrown block of the 175,000-acre Zijinshan gas asset in China's Ordos basin intersected 68 bcf of gas in place, according to consulting engineers and in-house estimates, said Camac Energy Inc., Hartsdale, NY. Camac, which owns 100% of the foreign contract interest in the block in partnership with PetroChina CBM Co., plans to drill the ZJS-03 well late in the 2011 first quarter on the larger upthrown block. The block is in Shanxi Province near the West-East and Ordos-Beijing gas pipelines.
Guinea
Hyperdynamics Corp., Houston, has signed a nonbinding letter of intent with an undisclosed large independent oil and gas company to farm out part of its interest in a concession off Guinea, West Africa.
The companies are in a period of exclusive negotiations that ends Jan. 27, 2011, unless the parties agree otherwise.
New Zealand
Roc Oil Co. Ltd., Sydney, heads a group that plans to bring the Kaheru prospect on PEP 52181 just off New Zealand's North Island to the drilling phase.
The permit covers 42,379 acres in the main Taranaki basin oil and gas discovery fairway. TAG Oil Ltd., Vancouver, BC, has joined the joint venture with 20% interest in the permit.
PEP 52181, 8 km offshore, contains Kaheru and numerous leads and has extensive 2D and 3D seismic coverage. Kaheru is a Miocene-aged prospect on the same thrust belt play fairway as many significant Taranaki oil and gas fields. It is just east of Kupe gas-condensate field.
Turkey
Oman Resources Ltd., private UK explorer, is pursuing a gas-condensate development program on the 49,821 ha Konya Block 4077 in the Tuz Golu basin of south-central Turkey.
The Gulhanim-2 well has encountered a previously unidentified but encouraging gas zone at 1,275-90 m and should reach the Lower Eocene-Upper Paleocene target by late January 2011. A workover rig was expected to reenter the Karapinar-1 well.
Construction is to start shortly on a compressed natural gas bottling plant that will provide an early, commercially attractive solution to monetize gas produced from the block until a 12-km pipeline can be installed.
Early interpretation of 14 lines of the 186 line-km of 2D seismic shot on the southern part of the block are supportive of further leads in the west and indicate possible structural closure to the east, said Niche Group PLC, an investor in Oman Resources.
Vietnam
CGGVeritas has signed a term sheet with Petrovietnam Technical Services Corp. to create a joint venture to operate 2D and 3D marine seismic vessels, primarily in Vietnamese waters.
The joint venture will provide seismic data acquisition services for the oil and gas clients operating locally in Vietnam and the region.
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