The first well on Yemen Block 5, formerly a disputed zone between North and South Yemen, is a gas/condensate discovery.
France's Total gauged a 12.32 MMcfd and 600 b/d flow at its 1 Jannah wildcat on the jannah block in the Marib area.
The reservoir lies in zones comparable to those in Al Raja field found by Yemen Hunt Oil Co. on the adjoining Marib Al Jawf permit immediately northwest of Block 5.
Total operates on behalf of Hunt-Exxon Corp., Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co., and the two former Soviet organizations Machinoexport and Zarubezhgeologia.
The Jannah permit lies between Yemen Hunt operated producing fields in the Marib al Jawf permit and fields in Shabwa Block 4, where Nimir Petroleum, with ARCO as operator, has taken over development of reserves from former Soviet organizations.
Nimir also signed agreements with Yemen for three new exploration permits in the eastern part of the country.
Block 33 lies immediately north of the South Masilah permit, where a group led by Canadian Occidental will undertake Yemen's third oil development program.
Block 29 lies north of Block 33, while Block 16 covers onshore and offshore acreage in the Gulf of Qamar area.
Nimir will spend $30 million on each block and drill at least three wells.
Middle East Economic Survey said Nimir, controlled by private Saudi Arabian interests, is in the final stages of negotiating a joint venture with an undisclosed U.S. company to participate in upstream and downstream projects in the U.S. and North Sea.
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