Tracy Dulle • Houston
North America
Cairn Energy has secured interest in six offshore west Greenland exploration licenses covering 52,000 sq km (20,077 sq mi) in water depths from 300 m to 1,400 m (984 ft to 4,593 ft).
Cairn says its Capricorn exploration arm landed operated interest of 87.5% in Sigguk and Eqqua blocks, and 92% in Kingittoq and Saqqamuit. Nunaoil A/S, Greenland’s national oil company, holds the remaining interest. The licenses include an obligation for seismic acquisition.
In non-operated interest, Capricorn got 40% in Atammik and Lady Franklin from EnCana Corp.
Latin America
Modec’s FSOCidade de Macae, on lease to Petrobras, has seen its first oil, received final acceptance, and has begun its 20-year charter.
The FSO, in Campos basin off Brazil, has storage of 2.15 MMbbl of oil and is permanently moored to an external turret. It is part of the Planned Development and Oil Distribution facility designed by Petrobras as the hub for several floating production units. It will serve five platforms:P-52 (Roncador), P-53 (Marlim Leste), P-51 (Marlim Sul), P-55 (Roncador), and Roncador Module 4 unit that is scheduled to be installed in the future.
Canadian Superior Energy and partner BG International have made a natural gas discovery on Intrepid block 5(c) off the east coast of Trinidad.
Canadian Superior Energy has successfully flow tested the first zone to be completed on the company’s Victory well, offshore Trinidad.
“We have just finished the successful flow testing of the first zone to be completed on our Victory well, which is part of an initial three-well exploration program offshore Trinidad on our Intrepid block 5(c),” says Greg Noval, Canadian Superior’s chairman. “We are encouraged by the initial test results in the first zone and will be moving up hole in the well to test at least one further horizon.”
“The Victory well has an estimated flowing rate of over 100 MMcf/d of natural gas and is condensate rich,” says Craig McKenzie, Canadian Superior’s CEO. “We have just completed the extended flow testing of the first zone to be tested in the well which was flowed on a restricted flow basis with high pressures and flowed with measured flow rates averaging between 40 and 45 MMcf/d of natural gas.
North Sea/Europe
Lundin Petroleum has resumed production from the Thistle field. Production was suspended following a fire in one of the Thistle Alpha installation’s power generation turbine enclosures.
Turbine A, the unit directly affected by the fire, has been removed from service along with turbine B. The third turbine, C, located in a separate module, was not in service at the time of the incident and is now operational.
Following the incident, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served Petrofac as duty holder with three notifications. According to the company, one notification, relating to onboard emergency response procedures, has been fully addressed. The others are being addressed in cooperation with the HSE and Lundin.
Shell UK has produced first gas from the £175 million ($324 million) Starling development in the central North Sea.
The Starling field, discovered in 1979 in 100 m (328 ft) water depth in block 29/3a, is tied back subsea to Shell’s Shearwater platform, 33 km (20.5 mi) to the northeast.
Produced gas from the wellstream is exported via the SEAL pipeline from Shearwater southeast to the Bacton processing terminal on the English east coast.
Starling’s oil and natural gas liquids head to BP’s Kinneil terminal in Scotland, via the Forties trunkline.
StatoilHydro has discovered further oil in the Fram area of the Norwegian North Sea.
The semisubmersibleBideford Dolphin drilled well 35/11-B23-H in the eastern part of Fram field, 10 km (6.2 mi) north of the Troll West oil province northern flank.
This was a dual-purpose well designed to target petroleum in Mid-Jurassic rocks in the C East prospect and to serve as horizontal producer in a proven Fram East reservoir.
It discovered oil and gas - mainly crude - which StatoilHydro estimates amount to 100 MMboe in place. This could yield recoverable reserves of 20-40 MMboe.
StatoilHydro believes the discovery also could extend into neighboring block 35/12, in production license PL090D.
The company will now examine options for a quick tieback to an existing production installation, possibly on Fram East or Troll C.
Asia
CNOOC Ltd. has brought two Bohai Bay projects onstream. The Bo Zhong (BZ) 34-1 oilfield has come onstream at 4,800 b/d of oil from seven wells, and the Jin Zhou (JZ) 21-1 is producing 3.53 MMcf/d of gas via one well.
BZ 34-1 has one central platform and one wellhead platform. Peak production from the planned 20 wells is expected to be 12,000 b/d of oil. The production started two months ahead of schedule.
JZ 21-1 is one unmanned wellhead platform. Peak production is expected to reach 11 MMcf/d of gas from three wells and 1,000 b/d of oil from two wells upon full.
Talisman (Vietnam 15-2/01) Ltd. has tested the Hai Su Den (HSD) exploration well offshore Vietnam. This is Talisman’s second oil discovery in Vietnam in the past year, following the Hai Su Trang (HST) Miocene sandstone discovery on the same offshore block.
The HSD well is in block 15-2/01, 50 mi (80 km) off the east coast of Vietnam, on trend with large oil and gas discoveries in the Cuu Long basin, Talisman says. The well targeted a fractured basement reservoir and was drilled to 11,168 ft (3,404 m) TVD, encountering a hydrocarbon-bearing interval of approximately 2,400 ft (732 m). The well tested at a peak rate of 13,450 b/d of light oil and 6.87 MMcf/d of natural gas, constrained by test equipment.
Australia
Nido Petroleum Ltd. has extended the northeast of Service Contract 54 in the Philippines by 12,000 ha (29,653 a) through the relinquishment of an equivalent area from the less prospective southeastern boundary. The new acreage includes the Signal Head oil discovery and additional exploration potential, the company says.
Nido will commence acquiring seismic data over this area immediately using thePacific Titan seismic vessel.
With the addition of the Signal Head oil discovery to Nido’s asset base, the total number of undeveloped oil discoveries in SC54 increases to three, the company says.
Africa
Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Ltd. has initiated production from Kizomba C in 2,400 ft (800 m) of water 90 mi (145 km) offshore Angola.
Kizomba C is designed to develop 600 MMbbl of oil from Mondo, Saxi, and Batque fields. Mondo is the only field producing at present. The other two are expected onstream later this year. Total plateau production from all three fields is targeted at 200,000 b/d of oil.
Kizomba C includes two FPSOs and 36 subsea wells, making it the largest subsea development in the world for ExxonMobil.
In addition to Esso Angola (operator, 40%), other participants in block 15 are BP Exploration (Angola) Ltd (26.67%), ENI Angola Exploration B.V. (20%), and Statoil-Hydro Angola (13.33%). Sonangol is the concessionaire.
Total has outlined plans for the Pazflor development in deepwater block 17 offshore Angola. Drilling is scheduled to start in 2009 with oil production in 2011. The plan also calls for seabed gas/liquid separation next to the production wells, which would be a world’s first, says Total.
Total will begin drilling in the deepwater offshore field of Pazflor, off Angola, in 2009. This surface facility will be used to study water, gas, and crude oil separation equipment under the production conditions.
The general plan follows that for Girassol and Dalia. An FPSO will process oil from 25 subsea production wells at 200,000 b/d with storage for 1.9 MMbbl. It also will handle two types of oil – 17-22º API oil from Miocene reservoirs and 35-38 º API oil from Acacia Oligocene reservoirs. The development will include 22 water injection and two natural gas injection wells.
Pazflor is 150 km (93 mi) offshore, 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Dalia in 600-1,200 m (1,968-3,907 ft) water depths. The development is expected to cover 600 sq km (232 sq mi) with a north-to-south axis of more than 30 km (19 mi).
Total E&P Angola, a wholly owned subsidiary of Total, is operator of block 17 with a 40% interest. It is partnered with StatoilHydro (23.33%), Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Ltd (20%) and BP Exploration (Angola) Ltd (16.67%).
Noble Energy has completed a successful test on block I, offshore Equatorial Guinea. The I-4 well, which is on trend with the Belinda discovery on block O offshore Equatorial Guinea, encountered a Miocene reservoir that yielded flow rates of 1,634 b/d of condensate and 28.9 MMcf/d of natural gas, or approximately 6,450 boe/d, according to Noble.
The well was drilled to 9,721 ft (2,963 m) TD in 2,226 ft (678 m) of water. This was the final well of the six-well program by the drillshipSonga Saturn.
“We plan to have an active 2008 exploration and appraisal drilling program for both blocks I and O as we assess our options to commercialize our discoveries in the region,” says Charles D. Davidson, Noble Energy’s chairman, president, and CEO. “Our next well, scheduled to spud in late February with the drillshipSedco 700, will look to verify the oil resources down dip at the Benita discovery on block I.”
