Global E&P
Mediterranean
TheAtwood Southern Crosshas begun drilling the Gad-1 well offshore Israel in the Mediterranean Sea in 100 m of water. The target production is natural gas, and the planned well depth is 2,600 m.
Once the target depth is reached, it will be determined if a flow test will be performed at that time. The project is budgeted at an estimated $16.7 million.
Ness Energy indirectly holds, through other corporations, 90% of the general partner of Modi’in Energy. Ness Energy also, on a consolidated basis, currently owns 14.93% of Modi’in.
Americas
The jackup rigRowan Gorilla VI, damaged on the Grand Banks earlier this month as it was being moved to another well location, is undergoing repairs to knuckle joints on two of its three legs at Bay Bulls, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The rig was scheduled to drill one more delineation well in the White Rose field, but no date has been determined for its return to the Grand Banks.
Rowan Gorilla VI is expected to move to Nova Scotia to drill a well for EnCana Corp. after it completes its work for Husky Oil.
The White Rose field is located 350 km offshore east Newfoundland, approximately 50 km from both the Terra Nova and Hibernia fields. It is operated by Husky Oil (72.5%) on behalf of Petro-Canada (27.5%).
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Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. says that it has acquired a 25% stake in the southern part of block 2(c) retained exploration area (REA) and a 30% interest in block 3(a) offshore Trinidad & Tobago. Kerr-McGee’s COO Dave Hager calls the acquisition “an example of our creative business strategy.”
This strategy includes a growing list of offshore assets in proven petroleum provinces and an expanding base of business partners. The block 2(c) REA and block 3(a) are adjacent to the Angostura field in depths ranging from 150 to 300 ft of water.
BHP Billiton (39%) and Talisman (36%) are partners with Kerr-McGee in the block 2(c) project, while block 3(a) includes BHP Billiton (30%), Talisman (30%), and Total (10%) as partners. BHP Billiton operates both blocks.
The acquisition is still pending the approval of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries. It is expected to be approved and will increase Kerr-McGee’s interests to more than 340,000 gross acres offshore Trinidad & Tobago, says the company.
The Trinidad & Tobago program is part of a larger drilling scheme by Kerr-McGee that includes a plan to drill four new-field wildcat wells within the next six months, two offshore Angola and two offshore Brazil.
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Chevron says it is proceeding with the development of the Blind Faith field in Mississippi Canyon blocks 695 and 696 in the Gulf of Mexico. The GoM field will be developed using a semisubmersible production facility. Total capital costs for the project will be approximately $900 million.
The floating platform is being designed with capacity to accommodate up to 60,000 b/d and 150 MMcf/d. The facility will also serve as a hub for production from satellite discoveries and third-party tiebacks.
First production from the Chevron-operated Blind Faith field is expected during the first half of 2008.
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Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol began shooting 3,000 km of seismic around the island of San Andrés in mid-October, according to a statement by Mines and Energy Minister Luis Ernesto Mejía. This move has met with resistance from the government of Nicaragua, which claims sovereignty in the region.
Nicaragua’s Foreign Ministry sent a letter of protest to the government of Colombia in response to Mejía’s announcement. The Colombian government also claims sovereignty in the waters surrounding both San Andrés and the Providencia archipelago.
Nicaragua’s federal government has asked the International Court of Justice to step in and settle this matter, as well as another area in dispute in the Caribbean.
In the meantime, Ecopetrol plans to continue seismic studies along an area covering 3,500 km off the Pacific coast of Colombia. This will bring the total seismic data recorded by Colombia in 2005 up to 10,000 km, the highest figure for the past 14 years, says the company.
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The seismic data collected by Staatsolie and Maersk Oil during the end of last year and the beginning of this year are now being processed. Repsol YPF has processed all the data collected and is preparing a 3D seismic evaluation of offshore Brazil’s block 30. The evaluation will begin during the fourth quarter of this year and will enable parties to more easily drill an offshore exploratory well.
Repsol YPF, Noble Energy, and Occidental will finance the cost, projected at more than $15 million, of the intended seismic evaluation. The companies have formed a consortium responsible for the further exploration and eventual development of the block. Repsol YPF remains the operator.
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Devon Energy has expanded its portfolio in Brazil after winning three more offshore blocks in the Campos basin at Brazil’s seventh licensing and exploration round. The auction last month had a record number of companies vying for blocks, and the prolific Campos basin continues to be a popular target.
Devon says this marks the first time it will be the operator in a partnership with federal energy company Petrobras. Devon won a 50% interest in the deepwater Campos C-M 471 and C-M 473 blocks, as well as a 35% interest in the C-M 535 block. Petrobras holds the remaining interest in each of these blocks.
Devon is currently developing the Polvo field in the M-C-8 block, set for start-up for oil production in 2007. The planned production will be from an FPSO.
The company plans to start exploration soon in two other blocks in the Campos basin, as well as the BM-BAR-3 offshore block in the Barreirinhas basin in Brazil’s northeastern region.
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Repsol YPF has won three blocks in Brazil’s licensing round. The three blocks include a 100% operatorship of the ES-M-737 deepwater block in the Espírito Santo basin and a 50% stake in the C-M-536 block in the Campos basin, with Norwegian company Statoil winning the remaining 50%. The last award was for the ES-M-665 block in Espírito Santo as minority partner with 40%. The remaining 60% went to Amerada Hess.
Repsol is adding to its stake in Brazil, where it already has interests in eight exploration blocks. It has minority interest in five blocks in the Santos basin, two in the Campos basin, and a 20% stake of one block in the Espírito Santo basin owned by Petrobras.
West Africa
BP has scored its ninth discovery, Hebe-1, in ultra deepwater block 31 offshore Angola.
This discovery follows Plutao, Saturno, Marte, Venus, Palas, Ceres, Juno, and Astraea. The well is located 16 km southwest of the Ceres discovery.
Hebe-1 was drilled by theJack Ryandrillship, in a water depth of 2,008 m, 361 km northwest of Luanda, and reached a 4,823-m TD below sea level.The well was tested at a maximum rate of 5,956 b/d of oil through a 2-in. choke.
BP is evaluating development concepts in the southeastern region of the block.
Sonangol is the concessionaire of block 31. BP as operator holds 26.67%. Partners in block 31 are Esso Exploration and Production Angola (block 31) Ltd. (25%), Sonangol EP (20%), Statoil Angola AS (13.33%), Marathon International Petroleum Angola block 31 Ltd. (10%), and TEPA (block 31) Ltd., (a subsidiary of the Total Group) with 5%.
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Angola plans an E&P licensing round that will begin on Dec. 13. The round will include seven blocks - 1, 5, and 6, which are located in shallow water on the shelf of the lower Congo and Kwanza basins; blocks 15, 17, and 18 (excluding development areas) in deepwater of the lower Congo basin, and block 26, a deepwater block in the Benguela sub-basin.
Woodside Mauritania Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum Ltd., says that the Tevét-2 sidetrack (ST1) in offshore Mauritania PSC area B was drilled to a final 3,914 m TD by theStena Tay rig.
Woodside, the operator, holds a 53.84% interest in PSC B.
The results of the well will not be known until wireline logs are run and evaluated.
Once logging is completed, the well will be plugged and abandoned and theStena Tay will move to the Labeidna-1 well location.
Hardman Resources Ltd., which holds 21.6% interest in PSC B, says theStena Tay has run and cemented the 7-in. liner and has then drilled a 6-in. hole through the Cretaceous objective to the final total depth.
Well control has been a primary consideration while drilling the 6-in. section with a number of kick/loss events occurring and background gas (C1-C5) being observed at the surface.
While the evidence of hydrocarbons is encouraging, the openhole data do not show evidence of extensive reservoir development, says Hardman Resources.
The Tevet-2 well is located 2.5 km to the south of the Miocene discovery well Tevet-1, and lies in a water depth of 466 m.
Russia
CJSC Elvary Neftegas, the Rosneft-BP joint venture (JV), reported a discovery with its second exploratory well in the Kaigansky-Vasuykansky exploration license. The block, covering over 6,000 sq km, lies in the south of the Sakhalin-5 acreage, offshore northeast Sakhalin Island.
The Udachnaya well was drilled to 2,705 m TD and encountered hydrocarbons in three zones. A restricted test program was conducted on a single zone that flowed at 1,900 b/d through a 28/64-in. choke.
This second discovery in the block was made by theTransocean Legendsemisubmersible drilling rig on the Udachnaya structure about 40 km offshore, in water depths of 100 m.
The first well in the Kaigansky-Vasuykansky exploration license was drilled in 2004 on the Pela Lache structure 15 km to the east. It encountered significant volumes of oil and gas in a number of high-quality sandstone reservoirs.
Elvary Neftegas plans to continue exploratory drilling in 2006.
Rosneft holds 51% and BP holds 49%.
In addition to Kaigansky-Vasuykansky, a BP-Rosneft alliance also shot about 3,000 sq km of 3D seismic in the West-Shmidt and East-Shmidt exploration licenses. The acquired geophysical data will be analyzed and interpreted by a joint team of BP and Rosneft specialists within the coming months. The 3D seismic survey program will continue in 2006.
Asia-Pacific
Shell Malaysia upstream company, Sabah Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd., says a Shell-Petronas Carigali-ConocoPhillips JV has made another material oil and gas discovery with its recent Ubah-2 exploration well, located in deepwater block G, offshore northwest Sabah, Malaysia.
The Ubah-2 exploration well encountered significant hydrocarbon columns in high-quality reservoir rock. The discovery well and an appraisal sidetrack were drilled in a water depth of 1,430 m.
According to Shell, this is the third successive deepwater discovery in waters off Sabah.
The JV partners in block G are operator Shell Malaysia (35%), ConocoPhillips (35%), and Petronas Carigali (30%).
South Korea’s Daewoo International has signed an agreement with Korea Gas Corp. (KGC), India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Ltd. (ONGC), and Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) to develop a gas field in block A3, offshore Myanmar.
Daewoo said it would cost $300 million to develop the field’s 10 tcf of natural gas reserves.
Daewoo has 60% stake in block A3, with ONGC 20%, and KGC and GAIL each with 10%.
Daewoo has also appraised a gas field in block A1 offshore Myanmar, with estimated reserves of 18 tcf.
Libya opens offshore E&P contracts in second licensing round
Fifty companies submitted offers for oil and gas exploration contracts in Libya in the second exploration licensing round since the normalization of business relations between Libya and the US. Libya is offering contracts with the National Oil Corp. (NOC), the state-owned integrated oil company that controls the country’s petroleum industry.
Nineteen of the plots offered early last month were in areas already producing oil such as Sirte (center of the country); Ghadames (west); and Murzuq (southwest). The others are in Cyrenaica and Kufra (both in the east).
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s subsidiary, ExxonMobil Libya Ltd., won one contract for exploration in the Cyrenaica basin contract area 44 along with Japanese giant Nippon Oil Corp. and PT Pertamina of Indonesia. Contract area 44, which comprises 2.5 million acres, is located in the offshore Cyrenaica basin in water depths ranging from approximately 10 ft to more than 10,000 ft. ExxonMobil was the only US oil company named as a high-bidder in the license round.
Additional contracts awarded for offshore exploration included:
• Nippon Oil Corp./Mitsubishi Corp., contract area 1, blocks 1 and 2;
• PT Pertamina, contract area 17, block 3;
• China National Petroleum Corp. Ltd., contract area 17, block 4; and
• Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (Japex)/ Nippon Oil Corp., contract area 40, blocks 3 and 4.
Libyan officials say the country has oil reserves of 39 Bbbl and gas reserves of 52 tcf. Its current production is about 1.7 MMb/d, which it hopes to increase to 3 MMb/d by 2010-11.
Over the next five years, Libya’s plans call for the drilling of 50 wildcat wells/year, conducting 4,000 sq km/year of 3D seismic surveys, and 20,000 km/year of 2D seismic, an NOC official says.
The company plans a third bidding round late this year or in early 2006 and eventually expects to hold five or six additional rounds.