Bangladesh
Tullow Oil PLC, London, said it signed agreements in December 2005 to farm out a 60% interest in Blocks 17 and 18 in the Bay of Bengal to Total SA, Paris. Tullow retains 32% and remains operator of the blocks, which cover 13,724 sq km in southeasternmost Bangladesh south of Sangu gas field. Tullow and former partners conducted an extensive work program on the blocks since 1997.
Tullow said it is initially exploring for oil on the blocks, off Teknaf near the border with Myanmar. Oil is not produced commercially in Bangladesh, although several of the country’s gas fields produce condensate.
Tullow’s blocks are about 100 miles northwest of where Daewoo International Corp., Seoul, discovered gas on the Shwe prospects in the Rakhine basin.
Brunei
Brunei National Petroleum Co. Sdn. Bhd. awarded Block L in northeastern Brunei to QAF Brunei Sdn. Bhd. and Loon Energy Inc., Calgary.
The block covers 2,253 sq km mostly onshore. The award is subject to completion of a production sharing contract between Loon and BNP.
Loon began evaluating the block in mid-2005 and submitted a proposal for the contract on Jan. 3, 2006.
Tunisia
The government awarded Petro-Canada and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. the N2 and N3 blocks in the Mediterranean north of Tunis in January 2006.
The 2-year prospecting permit commits the partnership to acquire 900 miles of 2D seismic data.
The partnership has rights to evaluate and retain an exclusive option to convert the prospecting permit to a 5-year exploration license at any time.
Manitoba
Aspen Group Resources Corp., Calgary, secured a rig and plans to start a multiwell development program for oil in Mississippian Lodgepole in Daly field in southwestern Manitoba in April 2006.
Aspen operates a 50-50 joint venture with Westchester Resources Inc. that holds 2,760 acres in the field. Multiple wells could be drilled on as many as 25 tracts. Other potential may exist in other zones in the Lodgepole and Bakken formations, Aspen said.
Gulf of Mexico
Shell Offshore Inc. expects to reach a proposed total depth of 31,600 ft in the first three months of 2006 at an exploratory well on Green Canyon Blocks 390/434.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which holds 25% interest in the well on the Pathfinder prospect, said drilling reached 28,000 ft by the end of 2005. The Transocean Nautilus semisubmersible is on station northeast of the K2/K2 North complex.
Anadarko’s 2006 foldbelt program calls for drilling six exploratory and delineation wells other than Pathfinder. Most are on primarily Miocene prospects. The BP PLC-operated Kaskida prospect, however, to spud in the 2006 first quarter in 5,873 ft of water in Keathley Canyon 292, is projected to 30,700 ft with Miocene and Lower Tertiary objectives.
Delineation sidetracks under way at the Knotty Head discovery at Green Canyon 512 and the Big Foot discovery at Walker Ridge 29 should reach total depth by mid-2006, Anadarko said.
Pennsylvania
Range Resources Corp., Fort Worth, formed a joint venture with Talisman Energy Inc.’s Fortuna Energy Inc. unit to explore deep Trenton-Black River carbonates on 17,000 acres in southwestern Pennsylvania.
The first wildcat is to spud in the second quarter of 2006. Range has drilled two wells to Trenton-Black River in north-central Pennsylvania, one dry and the other awaiting completion.