Exploration discoveries

	Vol. 229 No. 6
ARTHUR BERMAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, bermanae@gmail.com

Africa. Eni made an oil discovery with its Sangos-1 well in Block 15/06 offshore Angola. The well tested an unspecified amount of 29˚API oil from a 417-ft interval of high-quality Miocene sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled to a 10,968-ft TD in 4,426 ft of water, about 215 mi north of Luanda. Eni (operator) has 35% interest and is in partnership with six other companies.

Sipetrol International made an oil discovery with its Shahd SE-1 well in the East Ras Qattara concession of onshore Egypt. The well tested 39˚API oil at an average rate of 2,500 bpd, and was drilled to a 9,744-ft TD. Sipetrol is part of the Chilean state oil company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP) and operates the East Ras Qattara block with 50.5% interest, with Oil Search holding the remaining 49.5%.

Melrose Resources discovered gas and condensate in its East Abu Khadra-1 exploration well in Egypt’s onshore El Mansoura Block. The well tested 13 MMcfgd and 182 bbl of condensate per day from 38 ft of net pay. The company estimates gross reserves of 17 Bcfe. Elsewhere in the El Mansoura Concession lies Melrose’s Damas-1 discovery. The well was flow tested in Sidi Salim reservoirs at a rate of 14.3 MMcfgd and 105 bcpd, and reserves are estimated to be 8-10 Bcfe. Three pay zones had a combined gross gas column of 124 ft.

RWE Dea made a gas and condensate discovery with its North Sidi Ghazi-1x exploration well, onshore Egypt in the Nile Delta Disouq Concession. The well tested 37 MMcfgd from Upper Messinian reservoir sands in a perforated interval between 9,029 and 9,088 ft. RWE Dea has 100% interest in the license block and well.

In Libya, RWE Dea made a gas and condensate discovery with its B1 NC-195 well in the Sirte Basin. The discovery well flowed 1,044 bcpd and 15.4 MMcfgd from Dahra and Beda reservoirs. RWE Dea operates with 100% interest, though this interest reverts to 32% at some point under the terms of its production-sharing agreement with the Libyan NOC.

Europe. Eni Norge made a gas and condensate discovery with its 34/12-1 well in the Norwegian North Sea sector. The well found pay in Middle Jurassic sandstone reservoirs and had a TD of 15,381 ft. The discovery was drilled in 1,224 ft of water and is located about 19 mi northeast of Kvitebjorn Field.

Dana Petroleum discovered oil in Block 210/24a (West Rinnes) in the UK North Sea. Well 210/24a-11 tested up to 7,800 bopd (32˚API) from sandstone reservoirs in the Brent Group. The well drilled to a TD of 6,470 ft about 3 mi from Hudson Field. Dana (operator) has 47.5% along with CIECO (25.7%), Shell (13.4%), and ExxonMobil (13.4%).

Maersk Oil discovered oil in the Bo-3X exploration well in the A.P. Moller-Maersk Concession Area, Danish North Sea. The well was drilled to a total depth of 8,730 ft and is 3 mi south of Valdemar-Bo Field. No further details were announced. Maersk (operator) has 39% interest, with partners Royal Dutch Shell (46%) and Chevron (15%).

Noil Energy (formerly DNO) made a light oil discovery with its wildcat 16/1-9 well (“Draupne”) in production license 001B, Block 16/1, Norwegian North Sea. The well found pay in Middle Jurassic reservoirs and was drilled to an 8,238-ft TD in 364 ft of water. Noil (operator) has 35% interest in partnership with StatoilHydro (50%) and PA Resources (15%).

StatoilHydro made a gas discovery in Lower Jurassic reservoirs at its Natalia prospect in the Norwegian Sea, Block 6507/11, exploration license PL263. Estimated ultimate recovery is 53 Bcfg. The well is located a few miles northwest of Asgard Field and was drilled to a 9,974-ft TD. StatoilHydro operates with 70% interest in partnership with Bayerngas Norge (30%).

Australia. Apache drilled its sixth discovery well on Permit WA-356-P with its Julimar Northwest-1 exploration well on Australia’s Northwest Shelf. The well found 43 ft of net pay in the J-17 Triassic Mungaroo Sandstone. This well had better reservoir quality than the Julimar-1 well 4 mi to the southeast, which tested 42 MMcfgd from the Mungaroo. Apache estimates that the ultimate recovery of the Julimar area will be 2 to 4 Tcfg.

Eni’s Kitan-2 appraisal well of the March oil discovery was successful in Block JPDA06-105 in the Timor Leste/Australia Timor Sea Joint Petroleum Development Area. The well tested up to 6,100 bopd and drilled to an 11,707-ft TD, about 310 mi off the Australian coast. Eni (operator) has 40% interest in partnership with Inpex (35%) and Talisman Resources (25%).

South America. Petro Tech Peruana announced a new oilfield discovery with its San Miguel-1 well, offshore Peru. The company estimates 323 million bbl of reserves for the discovery in addition to the 809 million bbl of reserves for three other fields previously found in the license area. First production is anticipated in 2010.

Petrobras is preparing to drill two additional subsalt exploration wells in the Carioca area of the Santos Basin of Brazil. The Brazilian national oil company is drilling an exploration well in Block BM-S-10 in 6,890 ft of water, west of the Tupi discovery (Block BM-S-11), northeast of the Bem-te-Vi discovery (Block BM-S-8), and north of the Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf) discovery (Block BM-S-9). Petrobras (operator) has 65% interest, along with Partex (10%) and BG (25%).

GeoPark Holdings discovered gas with its Cerro Sutlej-1 exploration well on the Fell Block in the Magallanes region of southern Chile. The well is producing at 4.3 MMcfgd and 100 bcpd from the Springhill formation at a depth of about 9,924 ft. The Cerro Sutlej-1 is the fifth successful well drilled by GeoPark in Chile since 2007. GeoPark (operator) has 90% interest in partnership with the Chilean state firm ENAP(10%).

North America. Newfield Exploration made two discoveries in the US Gulf of Mexico’s Mississippi Canyon (MC) Blocks 800 and 754. The Gladden well in MC 800 encountered 80 ft of net oil pay in about 3,116 ft of water. The Anduin West well in MC 754 found 30 ft of net gas-condensate pay in 2,696 ft of water.

Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. (BRPC) discovered oil with its Tofkat-1 well on the North Slope of Alaska. The Kuparuk Sandstone discovery was based on well log interpretation and an MDT test. BRPC (operator) and its partners TG World, Bow Valley, AVCG and Ramshorn Investments all have a 20% stake.

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