Portugal
Desire Petroleum PLC, London, said Mohave Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, has plugged and abandoned the Aljubarrota 2 sidetrack (2ST) in the Lusitanian basin.
The zone "failed to produce commercial quantities of hydrocarbon gases during underbalanced drilling operations." During brief test periods, open hole production rates ranged up to 100 Mcfd, indicating very low permeability.
Desire said it will study all well data before deciding whether to acid-frac the sidetrack (OGJ, May 1, 2000, p. 42).
Viet Nam
Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp.'s subsidiary Nippon Oil Exploration Ltd. found oil at the RD-10X stepout in southern Rang Dong field, Block 15-2.
RD-10X was drilled in the basement rock reservoir that had been determined to have a high potential after the RD-8X appraisal well yielded 8,500 b/d with a potential exceeding 10,000 b/d in December 2000. RD-10X, spudded in early April 2001 and drilled to TD 5,044 m, flowed 8,000 b/d of oil on a 48/64 in. choke and also has a potential of more than 10,000 b/d, Nippon said.
The company hopes to establish early production from the field's southern area. Rang Dong field has produced more than 32 million bbl of oil. At 50,000 b/d its output is second only to that of Bach Ho field.
California
Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co., Bakersfield, was to resume tests at the 1 Ekho indicated discovery in the San Joaquin basin.
The well, on the eastern flank of the East Lost Hills deep gas play, stands at TD 19,085 ft. It encountered oil and gas shows across 2,500 ft of intervals (OGJ, July 10, 2000, p. 34).
"The lower objective, the Vedder sand of the Lower Temblor Section, proved to be saturated with 48° gravity oil and 1,460 Btu gas but low permeability prevented immediate commercial production."
Tri-Valley has engaged engineering and stimulation companies and consultants to assist in the completion attempt.
Oklahoma
The state had 12,805 active oil wells and 8,702 active gas wells at yearend 2000, both figures down slightly from 1999, corporation commission statistics showed.
Oklahoma had 133,280 leases in force of which 51,495 leases were producing from one or more wells.
The state produced 1.48 tcf of natural gas, 139 bcf of casinghead gas, 66 million bbl of oil, and 2.7 million bbl of condensate. Only the natural gas production figure was up from 1999.
The state approved permits to drill 4,501 wells, but operators completed only 2,267 wells during the year. That included 100 or more each in Texas, Beaver, and Pittsburg counties.