Eldon Ball, Houston
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Gulf of Mexico
Shell Exploration & Production Co. has resumed partial production from its Mars TLP. Mars is the largest producing platform in the Gulf of Mexico and has been shut-in due to damage from Hurricane Katrina since late August of last year. This validates Shell’s announcement in late April that progress on the repair and recovery of the TLP and export pipelines was ahead of schedule and production was expected to resume in the second half of May. Shell also said that production will continue to ramp up over the next several weeks and Mars production will be restored to pre-Katrina rates by the end of June.
Shell operates the Mars platform with a 71.5 % working interest; BP has the remaining interest.
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Hess Corp. has discovered oil with its Pony prospect, located in 3,440 ft of water in Green Canyon block 468.
The Pony well encountered 300 ft of net pay based on logging-while-drilling data. The well is planned for total depth of 32,500 ft.
Additional objective sections are yet to be tested beneath the current depth. A full suite of logs will be run when the well reaches total depth. Hess has a 100% working interest in the well.
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Kerr-McGee Corp. has encountered oil on the Caesar prospect, located in 4,500 ft of water in Green Canyon block 683.
The discovery well, Caesar No. 1, was drilled to a total depth of 29,721 ft and encountered quality oil pay. The Caesar discovery follows Kerr-McGee’s recent natural gas discovery at the deepwater Claymore prospect in Atwater Valley block 140.
“The Caesar discovery, on the heels of our recent discovery at Claymore, validates the successful transition of our deepwater exploratory program into the sub-salt play,” says David Hager, Kerr-McGee COO.
Caesar is located approximately 160 mi south of Houma, Louisiana. Kerr-McGee operates Caesar with a 20% working interest. Shell E&P Co. holds a 62.5% working interest and Plains E&P Co. holds the remaining 17.5% working interest.
“We plan to immediately core the productive interval, then side-track the well approximately 4,000 ft to the north of the discovery to better determine the potential resources,” adds Hager. “Development options will be evaluated and could include a subsea tieback to our 100%-owned Constitution spar, just nine miles to the west in Green Canyon block 680.”
Following the Caesar operation, Kerr-McGee will move the rig to the Mission Deep prospect in Green Canyon block 955.
Kerr-McGee also continues the appraisal work at Claymore, which Kerr-McGee operates with a 33.5% working interest. The company is drilling a side-track well approximately 4,600 ft to the northeast of the discovery well to determine the extent of the reservoir. Once the rig finishes the appraisal well, it is expected to move to the Norman prospect located in Garden Banks block 434. Kerr-McGee operates Norman with a 35% working interest.
The company also is drilling the Grand Cayman prospect located in Garden Banks blocks 517, 518, 561 and 562. Grand Cayman is a 32,000-ft Miocene test operated by Kerr-McGee with a 35% working interest.
Brazil
The natural gas reserves of Brazil’s Manati field could be increased after an analysis of the first of seven production wells drilled there confirmed the presence of an unknown reservoir, federal energy company Petrobras said in a statement.
Manati is located in the shallow waters of the Camamu-Almada basin, 10km off the coast of the northeastern state of Bahia. Petrobras has a 35% interest in the field. The operator is Brazilian engineering company Queiroz Galvao with 55% while Norwegian oil company Norse Energy, owns a 10% interest. Initial estimates pegged Manati reserves at 24 bcm. The field’s development project includes a well 1,656 m below the sea floor from the PA-29 platform. The new reserves are located 150 m above that, the statement said. The Manati project would start supplying 3 MMcm/d of natural gas from early in the second half of 2006, building up to 6 MMcm/d by the end of the year. The gas would be transported onshore to the consuming centers through a 170 km, 14-in. pipeline. Norse Energy said in a separate statement that the P-13 platform, the second platform that will operate in Manati, has arrived in Brazil. The Manati consortium has also started drilling the second production well, Norse Energy said. Manati’s output would more than double the current supply in Bahia, which is declining from 6 MMcm/d.
Asia-Pacific
UK independent Serica plans to submit a development plan to the Indonesian authorities for the Tanjung Perling field in the Asahan Offshore production-sharing contract area. The decision follows a seismic acquisition program last year that suggested that the field, in the south of the block, was commercial. Further exploratory drilling is planned for 2007.
Serica is also close to securing a jackup for a three-well exploration campaign in the Billiton block, which could start this December. In the UK North Sea, the company plans to drill its first well on block 23/16f this fall.
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Drilling continues at the Jeruk-3 appraisal well in the Sampang PSC, offshore Indonesia, approximately 1.8 km west of Jeruk-1 and 40 km southeast of Surabaya.
Flow testing of the well is under way over the open hole interval 4,939 m MD to 4,978 m MD (4,663 m TVDSS to 4,696 m TVDSS).
After cleaning up, the well flowed oil at a choked-back rate of approximately 3,200 b/d with a gas to oil ratio of 230 scf/bbl through a 6.5-mm choke. The flow rate was constrained by surface facility limitations.
Prior to testing, a 9-m core sample was retrieved from the lower section of the test interval. The operator plans to complete the current testing operations and then drill ahead to continue the evaluation of the reservoir interval.
Participants in the Sampang PSC are Santos as operator with 40.5%, Singapore Sampang with 36%, Cue Sampang with 13.5%, PT Petrogras Oyong Jatim with 10%. Participants in the Jeruk field are Santos as operator with 40.5%, Singapore Sampang with 19.64%, Cue Sampang with 7.36%, PT Petrogras Oyong Jatim with 10%, and Medco Strait Services with 22.5%.
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Australia-based ROC Oil Co. Ltd. says initial wireline log data indicates significant oil in the Wei-6-12S-1 exploration well, drilled in block 22/12 in the Beibu Gulf, offshore China.
The preliminary analysis showed numerous separate reservoir sands, which collectively represent 100 m of net oil pay with generally good reservoir characteristics. Overall individual sands range in thickness to 25 m.
The block 22/12 Joint Venture is considering immediate appraisal.
A wireline logging program was conducted at a total depth of 2,535 m below rotary table at the Wei-6-12S-1 exploration well in block 22/12, said ROC.
Its preliminary analysis indicated that the gross reservoir interval targeted by the well within the Weizhou Formation of Oligocene age contains numerous oil-bearing sands.
The top of the highest oil sand is at about 1,950 mBRT and the base of the lowest oil sand is at 2,450 mBRT. The intervening 500 m is comprised of a gross sand-shale-silt sequence within which individual oil-bearing sands range up to 25 m in thickness.
The total collective net thickness of these oil sands is approximately 100 m, which substantially exceeds the JV’s most likely pre-drill expectation, it said.
The Wei-6-12S prospect represents an unusual structural target: the area of structural closure is relatively small (about one sq km) but the vertical structural closure is considerable (up to 95 m) and the gross prospective reservoir section is very thick (500 m).
The well, designed to penetrate most of the target sands about 30 m down-dip from the crest of the structure, is in 30 m of water, approximately 3 km southwest of the 2002 Wei-6-12-1 oil discovery.
The block 22/12 JV partners are: ROC Oil (China) Co. 40% and operator; Horizon Oil Ltd. 30%, Petsec Energy Ltd. 25%, and Oil Australia Pty Ltd. 5%. China National Offshore Oil Co. is entitled up to a 51% participation in any commercial development within block 22/12.
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The Philippines Department of Energy (DoE) has started seismic work on a new oil field in Palawan with an estimated 37.4 MMbbl of oil.
The exploration area of about one million hectares is located northeast of Palawan in the vicinity of Imalaun Island in Barangay San Carlos, Cuyo. The initial cost of exploration is estimated at $24 million.
Energy Undersecretary Guillermo Balce had briefed the Palawan Provincial Board on the exploration in a service control agreement signed in February.
The Cuyo oil field is considered the most promising site in the region for oil and gas reserves, based on the findings of the Philippine Petroleum Resource Assessment Project Study, a joint project with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).
Balce said the exploration is still in initial stages but he believes the area has the potential of a huge oil reserve, particularly northwest of Palawan.
The project is jointly undertaken by DoE, Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec) Philippines, and South China Resources .
Western Europe
Energy investment group Platinum Petroleum has agreed to a strategic investment of up to £21 million with Island Oil & Gas, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. The money will be used by Island in part to finance the cost of wells in the Celtic Sea off southern Ireland, in the Seven Heads West Sub-Area, and on the Old Head of Kinsale prospect. The agreement will also give Island access to new exploration and production opportunities in North and West Africa.
West Africa
BG Group and Sahara Energy Exploration & Production have been awarded oil prospecting license OPL 286-DO, under Nigeria’s 2006 Licensing Round. Subsidiary company BG Exploration and Production Nigeria will operate the license, with the first five-year work program including at least one exploration well.
OPL 286-DO is 250-km southeast of Lagos in water depths of 200 to 1,000 m. In January, BG also acquired operatorship of offshore block 332, where it is partnered by Sahara and Seven Energy Nigeria.
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Chevron Nigeria Deepwater B Ltd. and its partners drilled the first oil discovery in oil prospecting license (OPL) 214 approximately 70 mi. (113 km) offshore Nigeria.
The Uge-1 discovery well was drilled in 4,144 ft (1,263 m) of water to a total depth of 16,831 ft (5,130 m) and encountered more than 300 net ft (100 m) of oil.
“This discovery is a further demonstration of how we are achieving superior success from a focused and high-impact exploration program,” said John Watson, president, Chevron International Exploration and Production.
Chevron Nigeria Deepwater B has a 20% interest in the Block. Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Deepwater West, Ltd. is the operator of OPL 214 with a 20 % working interest. Uge-1 represents the first discovery on the license.
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Eni has been awarded a 35% participating interest and operatorship of the block 15 exploration area in deepwater offshore Angola, about 350 km from Luanda.
The block 15 exploration area is known to be highly prospective. There was a high level of competition to enter the acreage, with a total of 14 bids received for the block. Eni is one of seven companies expected to form the joint venture, which will advance the exploration and development work program in the area.
Eni says that the award will provide access to significant new reserves, and the operatorship will allow the company to leverage on the deepwater experience it has gained through its participation in the adjacent, prolific block 15 production area (where it holds a 20% interest).
The award will also reportedly reinforce Eni’s commitment to deepwater developments, which is a major strategic goal for the company going forward.
Eni considers the award a “significant win” for its growth in the E&P arena. Eni has identified Angola, together with Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and Kazakhstan, as strategic countries for its future growth in oil production.
A strong presence in Angola also reportedly represents an important step in Eni’s strategy to grow its presence in Portuguese speaking countries, capitalizing on the expertise and knowledge of Galp, the Portuguese oil and gas company in which Eni holds a controlling stake.
