Chevron hunting Llanos giant in Colombia

Where Chevron is Exploring the Llanos Basin [84234 bytes]

Chevron Corp. may be on the track of another giant oil field in Colombia's Llanos basin play.

Speculation is rife in Colombia that the company has made a significant discovery with its $28 million 1 Anaconda wildcat in Meta department of eastern Colombia.

Local press reports suggested the well cut a 2,000 ft hydrocarbon column, but Chevron said nothing has been confirmed. Chevron said such speculation is premature but expressed guarded optimism over potential results from the well, which it confirmed had logged hydrocarbon shows.

The well, on the Rio Blanco block 18 km west of the city of Villavicencio, lies southwest of British Petroleum Co. plc and partners' development program in the giant Cusiana-Cupiagua complex, Colombia's biggest discovery.

Chevron optimistic

A Chevron official in Bogota said his company is "very optimistic with preliminary results" of the Anaconda well.

The official said although the targeted structure is not as big as Cusiana, seismic data indicate a structure with postulated reserves that could approach 500 million-1 billion bbl of oil.

Bill Perkins, general manager of Chevron's San Ramon, Calif., support group, which serves the company's Latin American operations, last month said it was impossible to say yet whether Anaconda is commercial.

"All we know is that we've got shows. We don't even know if the reservoir is there because we haven't run logs...(but) things are looking pretty good at the moment."

During the next few weeks, Chevron plans to run logs and gather more seismic data while drilling wraps up. Test flow results are expected soon thereafter.

At last report, the hole had reached 16,205 ft. It originally was programmed to 16,500-17,000 ft, but Chevron said it intends to continue drilling until it runs out of shows-perhaps to 18,200 ft.

"There are going to be a few wells before we have any idea how big this is-if it's big," Perkins said. "If it's small, we should know that pretty soon."

If preliminary results warrant, Chevron probably will drill at least two Anaconda appraisal wells.

And if the find is declared commercial, Colombia's state owned petroleum company Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos (Ecopetrol) would enter into a development agreement with Chevron and its partner, Taiwan's Overseas Petroleum Investment Corp. (OPIC). Ecopetrol would share costs and take a 50% interest in an Anaconda development program, leaving operator Chevron and OPIC with 25% each.

Other Colombian work

Chevron has maintained a continuous presence in Colombia since 1921.

It operates two producing fields in the country, both immediately south of the Rio Blanco block.

Castilla field produces 17,000 b/d of low gravity crude that is shipped by truck to Bogota. Chichimene field produces about 9,000 b/d of a higher gravity crude transported by pipeline to the Covenas export terminal.

Chevron's contract for these two fields expires in 2000, and the company reportedly is considering more drilling in the fields.