India
Reliance Industries Ltd., operator of the NEC-25 block in the Bengal basin offshore northeastern India, submitted the field development plan last week to the government of India.
Niko Resources Ltd., Calgary, which has a 10% working interest in the 3.6 million acre block, said an independent reservoir engineering firm is working on a reserves and economic evaluation for Niko's interest in the block.
With field development plans submitted and increased clarity on future gas prices for the developments, Niko said it expects to book reserves for the NEC-25 block and other planned development projects in its portfolio, effective March 31, 2013.
Reliance Industries operates NEC-25 with a 60% working interest, and a unit of BP PLC has 30%. When developed, the block is expected to produce gas from a deltaic channel complex.
Norway
CGG has begun shooting the 3-month first phase of the Steppingstone multiclient 3D seismic survey in the North Sea offshore central Norway.
The broadband survey is to cover 2,260 sq km over the Halten terrace and targets the southern trend of producing Jurassic reservoirs and discoveries in the Cretaceous, the contractor said. Acquisition and processing parameters are optimized to focus on providing better imaging of prospective Jurassic rotated fault blocks, inversion anticlines, and shallow targets.
The survey is expected to open up potentially prospective late Cretaceous-Tertiary turbidite plays in the west.
Papua New Guinea
A unit of Heritage Oil PLC will take a farmout from LNG Energy Ltd.'s Telemu No. 18 Ltd. subsidiary to earn an 80% interest in the PPL 319 and PRL 13 licenses in Papua New Guinea.
On closing, Heritage will become operator and will earn the interest by paying Telemu $4 million cash, funding the shooting of at least 100 line-km of seismic on the licenses, and funding the drilling of one exploratory well in PPL 319 to a depth sufficient to test identified targets. LNG Energy completed 22-km of seismic on Mar. 31.
LNG Energy said, "Heritage's investment, particularly with regards to the Tuyuwopi prospect previously identified on PPL 319 will greatly advance the project." LNG Energy has identified structural leads on PPL 319, which lies in the lowland area of the Papuan fold and thrust belt on trend with Oil Search Ltd.'s Kutubu and Gobe producing oil fields.
LNG Energy holds 68.5% interest in four PPLs that total 5.5 million acres in Papua New Guinea and has a 100% interest in 42,000-acre PRL 13.
Enterprise Energy Resources Ltd., Vancouver, BC, noted that it owns 15.75% of Telemu through its 50% owned unit EERL Holdings (BVI) Ltd.
Qatar
Wintershall AG has made a gas discovery off Qatar on Block 4 North exploration and production-sharing agreement area signed in November 2008.
Details were sparse, but Wintershall said the discovery is in 70 m of water close to supergiant North gas-condensate field and indicated that more than one well has been drilled on Block 4 North.
Wintershall is block operator with 80% interest, and Mitsui Gas Development Qatar acquired a 20% contractor interest in 2010.
Turkey
Turkey's General Directorate of Petroleum Affairs has awarded a 100% working interest in the Banarli License 5104 in the Thrace basin to Valeura Energy Inc., Calgary.
The 118,598-acre license is near the center and deepest part of the basin and has a 4-year initial term. Only two relatively shallow wells have been drilled, most recently Karaca-1 plugged at 1,026 m in late 2010.
Valeura believes Banarli to be ideally located to test for a potential basin-centered gas play and to explore for unconventional tight gas and shale gas in those areas where the Mezardere shale source rocks are below 3,000 m and may be at pressures and temperatures sufficient to create an active kitchen for hydrocarbon generation.
The company also believes that the overlying Ergene, Danismen, and Osmancik formations, which are also more deeply buried across the license, may also be prospective for conventional gas exploration.
License terms call for the spudding of one well in the first year. Valeura will shoot targeted 2D seismic to complement existing 2D coverage.
Montana
Anschutz Exploration Corp., Denver, will cease operations and withdraw from the Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana after failing to discover enough resources to support further exploration or development investment.
The company drilled 14 exploratory wells to varying depths on 600,000 acres that comprise the western third of the reservation in Glacier County and analyzed multiple hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. It notified the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council of its decision.
