Nigeria
Nigeria awarded Express Petroleum & Gas Co. Ltd. and Petroleum Prospects International Ltd., both of Nigeria, and Addax Petroleum Corp., Calgary, rights to OPL 227 in the west-central Niger Delta off Nigeria. The lightly explored block covers 210,300 acres in shallow water northeast of OML 79, where Shell operates giant EA oil field.
Four wells drilled in OPL 227 in 1974-88 had shows or were noncommercial.
Express, operator, and PPI hold 39% and 21% interest, respectively. Addax Petroleum will conduct technical operations, has paid a farm-in fee to Express and PPI and a signature bonus to the government, and is obligated to fund 80% of a work program.
The work program is for a minimum of 500 line-km of 3D seismic. Express will fund the other 20%. Addax and Express will initially fund 80% and 20%, respectively, of all capital and operating costs.
Sri Lanka
The government of Sri Lanka awarded the Indian subsidiary of Cairn Energy Ltd., Edinburgh, an exploration license in the Mannar basin 100 miles north of Colombo.
Block SL 2007-01-001 covers 3,400 sq km in 200-1,800 m of water in the Gulf of Mannar. The petroleum resources agreement will be signed in due course, Cairn Energy said.
It is the northern of three blocks offered in a licensing round in 2007.
Florida
BreitBurn Energy Partners LP, Los Angeles, plans an infill drilling program in late 2008-early 2009 on its properties in the Cretaceous Sunniland lime oil trend in the South Florida basin.
The properties, acquired from Calumet Florida Inc. in May 2007, consist of 25 producing wells on 33,422 net acres in five fields.
Production from the carbonate reserviors, which averaged 1,539 b/d of oil in 2007 from 11.4 million bbl of proved reserves, is declining at about 5%/year, the company said.