Global E&P Briefs

Marshall DeLuca
Houston

• Two new discoveries offshore Gabon: Shell's Kenguene Marin and Marathon and Santa Fe's Tchatamba South No. 1. [49,656 bytes]
• The "politically and economically detrimental" Kyapaz field. [64,628 bytes]

Africa:

Marathon Petroleum Gabon and Santa Fe Energy have announced an oil discovery in 150 ft of water offshore Gabon. The Tchatamba South No. 1 well, located in the 629,796 acre Kowe permit, flowed at a combined rate of 8,165 bbl of oil. The well has been temporarily abandoned and a second delineation well, Tchatamba South No. 2, has begun drilling.

Nuevo Energy has signed a second petroleum agreement with the Republic of Ghana and Ghana National Petroleum for rights to 2.7 million acres in the Accra-Keta prospect area offshore Ghana. This prospect is located 60 miles east of the area awarded to Nuevo in the first agreement in August. Nuevo has performed extensive seismic evaluations on the prospects and the first well is scheduled for the second half of 1998.

Shell Gabon has made an oil discovery in its Kenguene Marin exploration permit in the northern Gabonese offshore area. The well flowed over 3,000 b/d during tests. Shell holds a 60% stake in the field with the Gabonese Government as its partner. This is only the fourth oil discovery found in the northern region of Gabon.

Elf and Angolan national oil company Sonangol have made a second oil discovery on Block 17. The well Dalia-1 is located three km east of the successful Girassol-1 well and tested a combined output of 16,000 b/d from two different parts of the reservoir. Sonangol owns the concession with Elf as the operator and 35% interest holder.

Americas:

Callon Petroleum has acquired working interests in four of Chevron's blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Alabama. The company has purchased a 56.3% working interest in Mobile Block 864 Unit, a 59.3% working interest in Mobile Blocks 863 and 907, and 100% working interest in Mobile Block 864. The sale is limited to depths above 4,200 ft subsea.

Kerr-McGee has formed an alliance covering seven blocks in the Gulf of Mexico with Offshore Oil and Gas Corporation (OOGC) America, a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil. OOGC will acquire interests from Kerr-McGee and will participate in at least five wells on the blocks. The blocks cover over 30,000 acres in water depths from 36 ft to 360 ft.

Marathon has confirmed the successful delineation of a discovery at Green Canyon 112 in the Gulf of Mexico with an appraisal well on adjacent Green Canyon 113 in 2,045 ft of water. The Green Canyon 113 No. 1 well was drilled 7,300 ft southeast of the discovery well and encountered 120 ft of net oil pay. Marathon has a 65% interest in Green Canyon 112 and 20% interest in Green Canyon 113.

Texaco and partner Spirit Energy '76 have tested the Ladybug deepwater discovery in Garden Banks 409 in the Gulf of Mexico. The discovery is located in 1,355 ft of water about 150 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Reserve potential is estimated at 15-20 million boe following the results of three wells. A production test on one of the wells yielded 7,266 b/d of oil and 3.7 MMcf/d of gas.

Asia-Pacific:

Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and Texaco Exploration Myanmar have reported a new oil and natural gas field off the southern Taninthayi coast of Myanmar. The well, named Aung Ze Ya No. 1, is located on Block M-12, 25 miles northwest of the Yetagun field. Production from the field is estimated at 200 MMcf/d of natural gas, and will begin in 1999.

Phillips China has announced an oil discovery in the Bozhong Block, Bohai Bay China. The well, Peng Lai 14-3-1, was drilled to 12,766 ft in 79 ft of water testing at 1,602 b/d. The well is located in the east central sector of the block, 240 miles southeast of Beijing. This is the second well drilled on the block following the Bozhong 22-2-1, which was plugged and abandoned in January.

Arco and China National Offshore Oil have signed a cooperation agreement for the development of the Ledong gas fields in the South China Sea covering an area of 325 sq miles. Under the agreement, the two companies will combine resources to determine the economic viability and development, with Arco performing engineering and geology evaluations, assessing recoverable reserves, and identifying markets for the gas.

Premier Oil Natuna Sea and partner Pertamina have announced a new gas discovery in Block A west of Natuna Island in the Natuna Sea off Indonesia. The Gajahputri-2 well tested 35,000 MMcf/d of gas and 1,406 b/d of condensate. Reserves are estimated at 200-400 bcf.

BHP Petroleum of Australia is planning to order an FPSO for development of the marginal Buffalo Field in Block WA-260P. The company has begun accepting formal bids based on offering a converted FPSO. Production is scheduled to begin in late 1999.

Mobil E&P Australia have announced a natural gas and condensate discovery on Permit WA-248-P in 390 ft of water. The well, Athena 1, flowed at 47.4 MMcf/d of gas and 2,133 b/d of condensate. Mobil acquired the acreage from Ampolex in 1996 and holds a 50% interest with Phillips holding the remaining 50%.

Arco has reported another successful well drilled on the lease line between Arco-operated Berau block and BG-operated Muturi block offshore Irian Jaya. The well Vrwata-4 flowed at a gas rate of 36 MMcf/d. The well was drilled under terms of a collaboration agreement between Arco and BG.

China has established China National Star Petroleum, a third state oil company to explore for oil and gas both on and offshore. This company joins China National Petroleum and China National Offshore Oil in the search for new petroleum fields.

Central Asia

Turkmenistan has announced the exclusion of the Lachin, Yelbars, and Burgut oil and gas fields from an original list of 11 areas in the Caspian Sea for sale in a tender. Turkmenistan and Iran have decided to jointly develop the three fields, which lie on the Turkman-Iranian border. The three fields have total estimated reserves of 484 bcm of gas and 736 million tons of oil. The remaining eight fields on offer hold estimated reserves of 1.6 billion tons of oil and 1.3 tcm of gas.

Rosneft, the Russian oil company, has abandoned the deal with Azerbaijan and Lukoil for the development of the offshore Caspian Sea Kyapaz oil field. The company abandoned its 20% share of the agreement because it was "politically and economically detrimental." The field is also being disputed by Turkmenistan.

Europe

Chevron Europe has acquired extra acreage close to its Alba and Britannia oil and gas field in the Central North Sea. The company purchased 17.25% of Block 15/24A from BHP as well as operatorship and 35% of Block 15/29A from Texaco in exchange for interest in the West Guillemot field. The company will evaluate the fields as either stand-alone development or as a potential tieback to the Britannia field, which is expected to come onstream in mid 1998.

A consortium of Mobil North Sea, Enterprise Oil, Amerada Hess, and OMV (UK) have acquired Conoco's entire interests in the company's Beryl field located in the North Sea, UK Continental Shelf Quadrant 9. It is expected that existing facilities on the Beryl field will be used as subsea tiebacks to the consortiums nearby Buckland, Sorby, and Maclure fields, which will begin production in 1999.

Texaco North Sea has brought the Erskine gas condensate field on stream. Initial production will be followed by further development drilling before peak production is achieved from the field's six producer wells. Production is expected to be 120 MMcf/d and 29,600 b/d of condensate. Peak production is expected to be reached in October 1998.

Statoil is planning the joint development of the Glitne and Theta West oil fields in the Sleipner area of the North Sea. The Glitne field has estimated reserves of between 50-60 bbl of oil. The size of the Theta West field has yet to be classified. Development plans are expected in the next year with production to begin in October 2000.

Statoil has made an oil discovery in the Lude formation east of its Gullfaks South field in the North Sea. The combination exploration and production well was drilled in Block 34/10 and found a 700 m vertical oil and gas column. Statoil will proceed with more appraisal drilling in order to make a full evaluation of the find.

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