Albania awards production, exploration grants

Albania Concessions [107,251 bytes] Albanian exploration and production activity is set to increase as a result of recent awards. A group led by Austria's OMV AG has won two production-sharing contracts (PSCs) covering three onshore blocks. And a consortium led by Occidental International Exploration & Production Co., Bakersfield, Calif., was awarded three exploration blocks, also onshore.

Feb. 23, 1998

3 min read

Albania Concessions [107,251 bytes]

Albanian exploration and production activity is set to increase as a result of recent awards.

A group led by Austria's OMV AG has won two production-sharing contracts (PSCs) covering three onshore blocks. And a consortium led by Occidental International Exploration & Production Co., Bakersfield, Calif., was awarded three exploration blocks, also onshore.

OMV-led group's PSC

OMV is leader of a group that won two PSCs. One contract is for Block 1, which lies east of Tirana and covers an area of 2,551 sq km (see map). The other is for Blocks 4 and 5 in southern Albania, which cover a total of 4,365 sq km.

OMV said the work obligations under the two contracts include acquisition of seismic data and drilling of at least one exploration well. An OMV official said the location of the well has not been determined.

Interest holders in the two contract areas are: operator OMV 40%; Enterprise Oil Exploration Ltd., London, 30%; the London-based Clyde Expro plc unit of Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. 15%; and the MOL Albania Oil & Gas Ltd. unit of Hungarian state firm MOL Rt. 15%.

OMV has operated in Albania since 1989 and was awarded offshore Block 1, known as Rodoni, in March 1991, as outright interest holder. The official said OMV drilled a wildcat on Rodoni early last year. Further work on the license was prevented by civil war in Albania, which erupted in March 1997.

Oxy group exploration

A consortium led by Oxy International E&P was awarded three exploration blocks in Albania. Blocks 2, 3, and A were part of a bid round that opened in 1996 and included eight blocks not previously offered.

Operator Occidental 50% and partners Anschutz Albania 30% and International Petroleum Corp. 20% received preliminary approval for the blocks late in 1996. Anschutz Albania is a business unit of Denver-based Anschutz Overseas Corp; IPC is a subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Sands Petroleum AB.

The three blocks are on trend with a proven petroleum system where an estimated 1 billion bbl of recoverable reserves have been discovered. Most existing oil fields in Albania are on Blocks 2 and 3. The current producing area of these fields is excluded from the permits, but deeper exploration objectives are included.

The primary exploration target will be sub-thrust, fractured carbonate reservoirs similar to those discovered in the southern Appenines of Italy. Several large leads have been identified on existing seismic and landsat images.

In the primary 3-year exploration phase, the group is committed to gathering 650 km of 2D seismic and drilling two exploration wells.

An initial 150 km seismic program, including the extensive testing of specialized acquisition and processing techniques, will be used to address the primary technical risk, which is the seismic imaging of sub-thrust structural prospects, during the year. Acquisition of the rest of the seismic program and drilling are planned for 1999.