Australia
Shell Development (Australia) Pty. Ltd. will earn a 50% interest in and become operator of the AC/P 52 permit in the northern Browse basin offshore Western Australia under a farmout from Finder Exploration Pty. Ltd., private Perth independent.
Shell will earn its interest through cash payments and funding a percentage of drilling costs of the Cronus-1 exploratory well up to an agreed cap. Shell is to drill the well in 2015.
Cronus, north of and along trend with Poseidon, Ichthys, and Prelude gas fields, is a multi-tcf gas prospect that was matured using the Cartier West multiclient 3D seismic data set. Finder said it sees multiple potential routes to commercialization if Cronus were successful.
Assuming receipt of various government approvals, AC/P 52 permit interests would be Shell 50%, Sasol Australia Petroleum Ltd. 30%, and Finder 20%.
Greenland
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. has begun expansion of a multiclient 2D seismic survey offshore Northeast Greenland in advance of the 2013-14 license round and expects to acquire 4,200 km of data due to favorable ice conditions.
The new data will provide companies with dense data coverage over the license area, the company said.
The M/V Viking Balder icebreaker will accompany the M/V Akademik Shatskiy seismic vessel, and a helicopter is being used for ice density monitoring. TGS will process the data, which will be available in the first quarter of 2014.
UK
A group led by RWE Dea reported production test results for recently completed development wells A04 and A05 in Breagh field in the UK North Sea.
Well A05, now completed, was drilled to total depth of 12,810 ft measured depth about 2½ km northeast of the Breagh Alpha platform. The well has been tested at a maximum rate of 21 MMscfd, said field partner Sterling Resources Ltd.
"Following the testing of the A05 well, the A04 well which was drilled, completed, and suspended in February 2013, was tested and produced at a maximum rate of 26 MMscfd," Sterling said.
The wells are expected to provide a combined initial production capacity of 45 MMscfd under expected production conditions.
Initial gross production at Breagh is expected to be 135 MMscfd with five of the seven planned production wells on stream. The average production rate for the field is now forecast to be 102 MMscfd for the remainder of this year, assuming first gas production in mid-September.
This estimate reflects appropriate field uptime assumptions following production start-up of the wells and the processing plant, and compares with the previous May 21 forecast of 170 MMscfd, which assumed an early August production start.
Total average production during 2014 at Breagh is now estimated to be 112 MMscfd. This compares with the previous forecast average production rate of 146 MMscfd.
"We are pleased to be able to put another two development wells into service with a combined total of 45 MMscfd of production," stated John Rapach, Sterling chief operating officer. "However, the A05 production rate is somewhat lower than expected, as our petrophysical analysis suggests that the well had encountered the best sands yet found across the field. RWE Dea as operator of Breagh is evaluating the data and may recommend remedial actions which could be conducted in early 2014," Rapach added.
Louisiana
West Texas Resources Inc., Frisco, Tex., has acquired a 7.24625% working interest in the oil and gas leases, wells, and attendant production in Port Hudson field, Baton Rouge Parish, La., from an undisclosed seller for $702,900.
Port Hudson field has three producing wells that have recovered a combined 1.1 million bbl to date with estimated remaining proved developed producing reserves of 294,000 bbl and 229,000 bbl of proved developed behind pipe reserves. The wells are producing 290 b/d.
West Texas Resources' working interest is subject to certain overriding royalty interests, subject to which the company has a 5.65207% net revenue interest in the field. It is the company's first meaningful oil and gas acquisition.
Norway
Fifteen oil companies have purchased the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate's seismic data package from the southeastern Barents Sea and ocean areas off Jan Mayen Island northeast of Iceland as of Aug. 19, NPD said.
The directorate earlier this year released an increased resource estimate for the two areas (OGJ Online, Feb. 28, 2013).
The 15 companies are Chevron Norge, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge, DNO, AS Norske Shell, Total E&P Norge, Lundin Norway, Tullow Oil Norge, Statoil Petroleum, Dong E&P Norge, ConocoPhillips Skandinavia, Eni Norge, BP Norge, OMV (Norge), GDF Suez E&P Norge, and BG Norge Ltd.