Brazil
OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA, Rio de Janeiro, gauged gas-condensate on a drillstem test in the Santonian section of the 1-OGX-11D-SPS well on the BM-S-59 block on the Santos basin shelf off Brazil.
The well, in 180 m of water 84 km off Rio de Janeiro, in June encountered a 180-m column with 75 m of net pay in the Santonian section of what OGX calls the Natal accumulation. The late September drillstem test flowed gas and 47° gravity condensate that OGX said "should be responsible for more than 20% of the hydrocarbon volume of this structure.
The company said the test results indicate a production potential of 1 MMcmd and 1,200 b/d in a vertical well or as much as 5 MMcmd and 6,000 b/d in a horizontal well.
Colombia
Colombia's Ecopetrol said its Trasgo-1 well is the first oil discovery in the western part of the Cano Sur block in the Llanos basin and the fifth find on the block.
Trasgo-1, south of Cano Cumaral, averaged 120 b/d of 13.8° gravity oil from the Carbonera formation at 2,771-75 ft on a progressive cavity pump. Total depth is 2,934 ft.
Ecopetrol said it had to mobilize equipment 130 km from San Martin, the nearest town. The previous discoveries on the block are Mito-1, Fauno-1, Pinocho-1, and CSE8-ST1.
Egypt
Aegean Energy Egypt Ltd., a unit of Energean Oil & Gas SA, has launched a 20,000 line-km high-resolution aeromagnetic survey on 31,520 sq km West Kom Ombo Block 3 west of the Nile in southern Egypt.
The survey, to be completed in October, is designed to identify prospective areas for the next exploration phase, which carries a two exploratory well commitment by Sept. 16, 2014. Aegean Energy is operator with 90% interest, and Groundstar Resources Ltd. has a 10% carried interest.
Indonesia
Eni is designated operator of a multicompany group that has been awarded the 2,432 sq km North Ganal block in the Kutei basin off East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Eni said the group will shoot 200 km of 2D seismic and drill one exploratory well in the first 3 years. The block lies 80 km east of the Bontang LNG liquefaction facility. The North Ganal PSC is to be signed by the end of 2011, Eni said.
Group members besides Eni are Niko Resources Ltd., Black Platinum Energy Ltd., Statoil ASA, and GDF Suez.
Eni, already active in the Kutei basin, has submitted a development plan under which Jangkrik field would begin production in 2015 and has discovered Jangkrik Northeast field on the Muara Bakau PSC near the North Ganal block.
Italy
Sound Oil PLC said its Apennine Energy SRL subsidiary was awarded 100% interest and operatorship of the Costa Del Sole permit in a heavy oil area of southwestern Sicily, Italy.
The award is made by the Department of Energy of the Sicily Region subject to the submission and acceptance of an Environmental Impact Assessment. Apennine Energy will submit the necessary documentation within days.
The permit contains the Manfria-1bis oil discovery, which flowed at 150 b/d of oil and produced a cumulative 6,000 bbl during testing. It is estimated to contain a midrange contingent resource of 2 million bbl. The adjacent Cielo prospect, which appears in structural continuity with Manfria, could hold a similar resource if successfully drilled, Sound Oil said.
Manfria and Cielo 10 km from Gela field and a heavy oil refinery. Apennine Energy plans to acquire, reprocess, and interpret legacy seismic data in order to define drilling locations for possible appraisal and exploratory wells.
Libya-Tunisia
Sonde Resources Corp., Calgary, has lifted the force majeure declaration made on June 8, 2011, as to the 7th of November block in Libyan and Tunisian waters of the Mediterranean.
The company took the action after reviewing the Canadian government's Aug. 31 repeal of unilateral sanctions against Libya. Sonde requested a meeting with Joint Oil, the Tunisian-Libyan joint venture responsible for the block, to discuss near-term activities regarding the exploration program and the plan of development for the North Zarat discovery (OGJ Online, June 9, 2011).
Malawi
Surestream Petroleum Ltd., London, said it was awarded exploration licenses on the northern half of Lake Malawi in southern East Africa.
The company secured blocks 2 and 3 covering a combined 20,000 sq km and bordering Tanzania and Mozambique, making it the third largest net acreage holder in the East Africa rift system.
Surestream conducted a regional study of the rift and highgraded those basins most similar to the productive Albertine basin in Uganda. Lake Malawi, together with Surestream's Burundi acreage, lies along the trend of the western branch of the rift system, the only part of the rift system to be proven productive to date (OGJ Online, Feb. 3, 2011).
Morocco
East West Petroleum Corp., Vancouver, BC, was awarded the 500,000-acre Doukkala onshore block along Morocco's Atlantic coast 125 km southwest of Casablanca.
The company will hold 75-25% interests with Morocco's ONHYM for an 8-year exploration period.
East West will carry out regional geological studies, seismic acquisition and reprocessing, and exploratory drilling. It has identified conventional and unconventional oil plays on the acreage. Two wells encountered numerous hydrocarbon shows in Devonian shale at 1,500-3,000 m.
Romania
Winstar Resources Ltd., Calgary, is to spud two exploratory wells by mid-October in northwestern Romania near the border with Hungary.
One is an 1,800-m oil test at Madaras field, and the other is a 1,550-m gas test at Moftinu field. Both offset older wells that encountered hydrocarbons.
Winstar will operate and pay 100% of the cost of the wells as part of the work commitment under a farmout from Rompetrol SA on the 459,339 net acre Satu Mare concession.
Syria
Gulfsands Petroleum PLC has plugged and abandoned the Wardieh-1 exploratory well 16 km southeast of Yousefieh field in Syria Block 26 after it encountered a zone of live asphaltic hydrocarbons overlying a porous reservoir, the combination of which threatened the safety of the drilling operation.
The well found the asphalt zone in a layer overlying and within the upper part of the exploration objective in the Cretaceous Shiranish and Massive formations. Gulfsands ran logs and deployed a high-density, oil-based drilling fluid in place of the water-based system to assist with the control of influxes of asphalt and maintain borehole stability.
Upon drilling ahead, the well encountered a highly porous and potentially cavernous zone resulting in the complete loss of the heavier drilling fluid, which resulted in the decision to halt operations for safety reasons. TD is 2,229 m, 271 m short of planned TD.
The Wardieh-1 well was designed as a test of a combined structural and stratigraphic trap in formations of Cretaceous age. It targeted a new stratigraphic exploration play.
The exploration objectives in the Wardieh area remain of interest due to the presence of live asphaltic hydrocarbons and underlying highly porous reservoir rocks, Gulfsands said. A similar occurrence of a hazardous asphaltic zone overlying a productive oil field of Cretaceous age is found at North Karatchok field 25 km northeast.
The company will conduct a comprehensive geological and operational review of the Wardieh-1 well result before deciding whether to drill again and will establish safe procedures.
Tunisia
ADX Energy Ltd., Sydney, set 95⁄8 in. casing at 1,295 m to test an interpreted 30-m oil column in Upper Cretaceous at the Sidi Dhaher-1 exploratory well on the 2,428 sq km Chorbane permit onshore Tunisia.
The well went to a total depth of 2,011 m measured depth. Logs indicate several potential reservoir zones in Tertiary and Cretaceous with relatively high porosity and permeability interpreted in Upper Cretaceous.
Wireline fluid sampling from an Upper Cretaceous-aged reservoir recovered a mixture of drilling mud, drilling mud filtrate, and oil. This recovery indicates deep invasion of drilling fluids into a permeable reservoir and the presence of movable oil, ADX said. The oil gradient calculated from formation pressures within the interpreted oil column suggests the presence of relatively light oil.
Interests in the well are ADX Energy and Gulfsands Petroleum PLC 40% each and XState Resources Ltd. and Verus Investments Ltd. 10% each assuming completion of farmout obligations.
Winstar Resources Ltd., Calgary, will drill a second Silurian exploratory well on its 42,502-acre Chouech Essaida concession in southern Tunisia along the Algerian border.
The 100% interest CS-10 well is to spud in early October 2.3 km east of the CS-1 discovery well with dual objectives in the Triassic and Silurian reservoirs. The 4,450-m well is to cost $15-16 million including a $5 million completion and test program.
CS-10 results will help plan the company's drilling and facility programs in anticipation of gas sales through the 320-km, 28-in. Southern Tunisian Gas Project pipeline expected to be completed by the end of 2014, Winstar said.
Meanwhile, Winstar shipped a 15 MMcfd gas processing plant from its depleted Torokkoppany gas field in Hungary to Chouech Essaida in order to place the lowest Silurian Tannezuft zone in the CS-1 well on production. Start-up is likely in early to mid-October. The CS-1 well has three pay zones in Silurian and two in Triassic.
Alberta
Strategic Oil & Gas Ltd., Calgary, has completed a horizontal oil well in the Devonian Sulphur Point formation at the Steen River astrobleme near the northwestern corner of Alberta.
The 102/11-22-122-21 w5m well intersected an oil-stained dolomite zone 8 m thick. The 662-m lateral has been completed open hole without acid wash or fracturing. Flow tested for 8.5 hr, the well recovered fluid at a rate of 730 b/d. Final water cut was 25%, and most of the produced water is completion fluid. Testing continued.
Strategic owns 100% of 58 contiguous sections (14,848 ha) with multizone oil and gas potential around the astrobleme and has mapped a 4-6 m thick Sulphur Point dolomite zone over the 58 sections.
California
Patriot Resources Inc., Midland, Tex., has spudded the Rhino-1 well in San Benito County, Calif., northeast of Salinas, described as the first location chosen to test for hydrocarbons in traps interpreted from 20 sq miles of modern 3D seismic in the 21,000-acre Vallecitos Project.
Dry hole cost is $1.4 million to 9,000 ft to test for oil in two intervals of the Eocene Yokut sandstone and other secondary targets within a mile of F&I field, which has yielded more than 3.6 million bbl of oil from Yokut at an average 3,300 ft, said Strata-X Ltd., Golden, Colo., with a 22.5% working interest in the project.
Colorado
Dejour Energy Inc., Vancouver, BC, received US Bureau of Land Management approval to begin development at its Gibson Gulch gas-condensate project in the Piceance basin near Glenwood Springs, Colo.
The permits allow construction of access roads and a pad and the drilling of the first four of eight proposed first-phase wells. Brownstone Energy Inc., Toronto, has a 28% interest in the federal leases.
The main producing formations in the Mamm Creek field eastern extension area are the Cretaceous Williams Fork and the Illes members of the Mesaverde formation at 4,500-8,100 ft.
Missouri
Gravis Oil Corp., Calgary, formerly MegaWest Energy Corp., opted to suspend operations at its Marmaton River and Grassy Creek thermal oil recovery projects in the Deerfield area of western Missouri.
The company based the decision on various cost factors, the company's financial position, and current market conditions.
Gravis is investigating ways to increase shareholder value, including either joint venture partners or farmouts to develop the heavy oil Missouri properties.
The company has an operated 90% working interest in more than 15,400 acres of land prospective for heavy oil development and has identified a number of additional potential steam injection projects in Missouri. It has an average 70% working interest in 73,241 acres of undeveloped land prospective for heavy oil in Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana.
Oklahoma
Continental Resources Inc., Enid, Okla., plans to spud in November 2011 the first multiunit well in the Anadarko basin Woodford shale play in Oklahoma under the state's new statute.
Continental has an 82% working interest in the long-lateral Toms 1-21XH, in Blaine County. Multiunit orders provide for the development with a single well bore of two or more 640-acre pooled units.
Meanwhile, Continental listed 1-day tests on notable company operated horizontal wells in the Anadarko Woodford play in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
They are: In Blaine County, Peters 1-3H, 5.1 MMcfd of gas and 51 b/d of oil, Kenneth 1-17H, 4.3 MMcfd and 149 b/d, Justice 1-15H, 4.9 MMcfd and 15 b/d, and Petty 1-17H, 2.1 MMcfd and 386 b/d; in Grady County, Lou 1-16H, 3.5 MMcfd and 224 b/d; in Dewey County, Saratoga 1-25H, 4.1 MMcfd and 110 b/d, and Dobbins 1-36H, 4.3 MMcfd and 62 b/d; and in Custer County, Cromwell 1-1H, 4.5 MMcfd and 34 b/d.
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