Area Drilling

Australia

The BHP Petroleum group is confident its Kakatua North 1A discovery will become part of the Elang/ Kakatua development project (OGJ, Mar. 3, 1997, p. 40).

The well, on a separate structure 1.1 km from the Kakatua discovery well on permit ZOCA 91-12, cut a 70 m gross hydrocarbon column at 3,131-3,201 m in Elang reservoirs comparable to those encountered in Kakatua 1 in 1994.

China

Ayrex Resources Ltd., Toronto, a unit of Tandem Resources Ltd., plans to start drilling this month in the Shan-Gan-Ning basin.

Ayrex signed a joint venture oil and gas exploration agreement on the 160 sq km Xiaohe block near Jingbian 550 miles west-southwest of Beijing.

The company plans 10 wells. It will earn a 72.25% net interest in the acreage by drilling the first two.

A China National Petroleum Corp. well on the block had an AOF of 12 MMcfd of gas from 9,000 ft. Its log showed several oil bearing sands at 3,000-4,000 ft.

Some 278 shallow wells produced 1.6 million bbl of oil last year on 78 sq km adjoining Ayrex's block to the east. China has a refinery in Jingbian.

Amoco's Liuhua field in the South China Sea is in 1,000 ft of water, not 100 ft as reported (OGJ, Feb. 10, 1997, p. 65).

Gabon

Chauvco Resources Ltd., Calgary, hopes to start production from Remboue field in third quarter 1997 at a higher rate than the 5,000 b/d initially anticipated.

The 2H ReRe, first of 10 planned horizontal wells in the field, indicated sustained capability of 700 b/d of oil from Aptian Gamba at 400 m with small amounts of hydrogen sulfide.

Tests of 4H ReRe indicate sustained producibility of 1,500 b/d of 34° gravity oil.

Chauvco plans to drill three to five wildcats this year on the block, where its interest is 90% in 224,000 gross acres. One objective is the Fourou Plage formation at 1,200 m, which flowed 160 b/d of oil at a well drilled by a former operator.

Indonesia

PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia plans to boost crude production to 785,000 b/d this year from 758,000 bbl in 1996, the company told Reuters.

Duri field produces 275,000 b/d and Minas makes 225,000 b/d. Caltex said Pertamina agreed to Minas light oil steamflooding, which will recover 300-400 million bbl. Results of a study are due in 1999.

Caltex will spend $400 million this year, up from $344 million in 1996. It will continue exploring its 31,000 sq km area in central Sumatra.

Oklahoma

Newkumet Exploration Inc., Midland, Tex., staked an Ardmore basin wildcat in Johnston County.

The 1 Oilcreek, in 26-4s-5e, is projected to 10,100 ft or numerous zones through Cambro-Ordovician Arbuckle. It nearly a mile southeast of idle, one well Southwest Teller oil field, which produced from Sycamore and Viola.

Mongolia

Nescor Energy Co., Austin, has acquired through Petroleum Authority of Mongolia the government's 50% working interest in a production sharing contract on 1.25 million acres in blocks 13 and 14 in the East Gobi basin.

This area includes Zuunbayan, Southwest Zuunbayan, and Tsagaan Els oil fields and surrounding acreage (see maps, OGJ, Dec. 7, 1992, pp. 41-43). The government ratified the deal in mid-February.

Overall, Nescor holds exploration and/or production rights to 13 million acres in the country.

Nescor ran extensive production tests last summer in the three fields. It drilled one well and reentered more than 150 of the more than 200 existing Russian drilled wells.

Production tests at the 14 Tsagaan Els reentry indicated a calculated initial potential of more than 800 b/d of oil from the field pay zone at about 1,200 m.

Nescor has built a self sufficient base camp to support its day to day drilling, workover, production, storage, transportation, and marketing operations and plans to start full scale activities in mid-1997.

The company owns and operates one drilling rig and one workover rig shipped from the U.S.

California

Enron Oil & Gas Co. is preparing to explore an area southwest of Bakersfield that has yielded three oil fields the past six decades.

Enron staked the Waterbank Fee 36X-14, in 14-30s-26e, Kern County. A 12,500 ft deeper pool test, it is west of Canfield Ranch field, northeast of Ten Section field, and southeast of Strand field. The fields have produced a combined 142.1 million bbl of oil and 244.3 bcf of gas, nearly all of it from Miocene Stevens sands at 8,100-10,150 ft.

Other exploration may be on tap in the wake of the $2 million 3D seismic survey Enron and Texaco conducted in 1996 in the same general area.

The 50 sq mile survey included 36 sq miles in 31s-26e and 14 sq miles in offsetting townships.