What Will Be Offered In Albania (106156 bytes)
Albania's National Petroleum Authority (NPA) plans to offer all open onshore acreage for exploration under a licensing round scheduled to open in November.
At meetings Nov. 28 in London and Dec. 5 in Houston NPA will disclose data on eight blocks covering a combined 22,400 sq km. The blocks, designated 1 through 8, range in size from 1,500 to 4,900 sq km.
The round will include two tracts, Blocks A and D, not taken in earlier licensing.
Andrew Bishop, new business development manager for eastern Europe, Western Atlas International Inc., London, said Albania has been developed so far to meet the country's limited requirements. Albania produces about 10,000 b/d of oil.
State firm Albpetrol drilled about 400 wells on the acreage on offer. The northern blocks are lightly explored and the southern areas well explored.
Western Atlas, under contract to NPA to help present data to foreign companies, said oil and gas discoveries to date have been in the External Albanides, particularly the Ionian Tectonic Zone and Per-Adriatic Depression.
"Recent exploration activity indicates there are many more promising prospects in these and other tectonic zones," Western Atlas said, "particularly the Inner Albanides. However, limited fiscal resources have hindered developments there."
Bishop said data from 2,800 line km of 2D seismic surveys are available, as well as data from all wells.
"The Albanian authorities are prepared to be completely open with information," he said.
Bidding dates will be announced at the meetings. Oil companies likely will have 9 months to prepare their bids. Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.