Exploration discoveries

	Vol. 230 No. 3
ARTHUR BERMAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, bermanae@gmail.com

Americas. ExxonMobil made a pre-salt discovery with its Ogum (Azulao) well drilled on Block BM-S-22 in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The discovery was located on the Sugarloaf feature, where previous discoveries were made with Petrobras’ Carioca, Bem-te-Vi, Caramba and Guara wells to the north of Ogum. ExxonMobil said that this is the largest discovery to date in the pre-salt play, with recoverable oil reserves of more than 10 billion bbl. The well was drilled in 7,293 ft of water. ExxonMobil operates with 40% interest in partnership with Hess (40%) and Petrobras (20%).

Elsewhere in the Santos Basin, Petrobras said that first oil from Tupi Field will begin in April 2009. Tupi was the first sub salt discovery (announced in November 2008), and it is believed to contain 5−8 billion bbl of recoverable oil.

Also offshore Brazil, Petrobras made two gas discoveries, one on Block BM-ES-5 in the Espirito Santo Basin, and the other on Block BCAM-40 in the Camamu Basin. The wells were drilled in 197 ft and 968 ft of water, respectively. No other details were announced. Petrobras operates both wells and holds a 65% interest in the Espirito Santo block in partnership with El Paso, and a 35% interest in the Camumu block in partnership with Manati (45%), Brasoil Manati Exploracao Petrolifera (10%) and Rio das Contas Produtora de Petroleo (10%).

Anadarko Petroleum discovered oil with its GC 859 “Heidelberg” well on Green Canyon Block 859 in the US Gulf of Mexico. The well found 200 ft of net Miocene pay and may contain 100 million bbl of recoverable oil reserves. It was drilled to a 28,500-ft TD in 5,000 ft of water about 135 mi offshore Louisiana. Anadarko operates with 44.25% interest. Partners include Mariner Energy (12.5%), Eni (12.5%), StatoilHydro (12%), ExxonMobil (9.375%) and Cobalt International Energy (9.375%).

Anadarko also announced a discovery in the Deepwater Tertiary (Wilcox) Play in the Gulf of Mexico with its WR-52 “Shenandoah” well on Walker Ridge Block 52. The well found 300 ft of Paleocene net oil pay with better reservoir quality than has been found elsewhere in the play. The find might contain recoverable reserves of 5−15 billion bbl. The Shenandoah well drilled to a 30,000-ft TD in 5,750 ft of water and is located northwest of the Coronado discovery. Anadarko operates with a 30% working interest in partnership with ConocoPhillips (40%), Cobalt International Energy (20%) and Marathon Oil (10%).

Also in the deepwater Lower Tertiary, Chevron discovered over 300 ft of net pay at its Buckskin prospect on Keathley Canyon Block 872 in the Gulf of Mexico. The discovery is 44 mi west of Chevron’s 2004 Jack discovery, also in the Lower Tertiary. The well is in nearly 7,000 ft of water and was drilled to a depth of 29,404 ft by the drillship Stena Drillmax. Repsol was the operator of the discovery well with a 12.5% working interest in the prospect. Chevron (55% working interest) will take over as operator and conduct all future work. Other partners include Maersk Oil America with 20% interest and Samson offshore Co. with 12.5%.

Plains Exploration & Production (PXP) confirmed its Friesian-1 discovery with the Friesian-2 well drilled on Green Canyon Block 643 in the US Gulf of Mexico. The well found 389 ft of net Miocene oil pay in four reservoir sands at a location 3,300 ft south of the discovery well. Plains plans to drill an additional 3,500 ft to reach a TD of 32,500 to test reservoirs that produce at the nearby Tahiti Field. PXP and Shell Offshore (operator) have 50% working interest each.

MGM Energy discovered gas with its Ellice J-27 well on the Umiak Block EL450 (BSMD-2) in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Beaufort Sea in northwestern Canada. The well flowed 38.2 MMcfd during a 12-hour test from the Aklak Formation from perforations between 6,447 and 6,473 ft. MGM operates with 60% interest in partnership with ConocoPhillips Canada Resources (40%).

GeoPark Holdings discovered oil on the Fell Block in Chile with its Alakaluf-1 exploration well. The well flowed 1,460 bopd, 0.4 MMcfd and 45 bwpd from 62 ft of Springhill Formation reservoir on a 24-hour production test. GeoPark operates the Fell Block with 100% interest.

Africa-Middle East. Noble Energy made a natural gas discovery with its Tamar-1 well on the Matan Block (Gal Block B) near Haifa, offshore Israel. Noble estimates recoverable reserves of more than 3 Tcfg from 460 ft of net Lower Miocene pay. The well was drilled to a 16,076-ft TD in 5,500 ft of water. Noble Energy operates with 36% working interest and has four partners.

BP made a gas discovery with its Ji 50-2 Ruby-3 well on the West Mediterranean Deepwater Concession, offshore Egypt. Pay was found in Pliocene reservoirs in the well, which is located about 40 mi north of Alexandria. The well was drilled to a 6,421-ft TD in 3,018 ft of water. BP operates with 80% interest in partnership with RWE Dea, which holds the remaining 20%.

Perenco made an oil discovery with its Loche East Marine well, on the Gulf of Guinea Ebene Marin Block, offshore Gabon. The well is flowing about 1,000 bopd. Perenco operates with 50% interest and has partner MPDC Gabon.

Repsol discovered gas in three wells in Algeria. In the Reggane Basin, the KLS-1 well tested 22.2 MMcfd at a depth of 12,205 ft. In the Ahnet Basin, the OTLH-2 well flowed 8.79 MMcfd on the M’Sari Akabli Block from reservoirs at 4,396 ft. Repsol operates both wells with 33.75% interest in partnership with Sonatrach (25%), RWE Dea (22.5%) and Edison (18.75%). In the Berkine Basin of Algeria, Repsol’s Al-2 well tested 5.58 MMcfd on the Gassi Chergui Block. Repsol operates with a 45% interest, along with Gas Natural (30%) and Sonatrach (25%).

Woodside Energy struck oil with its F1-NC210 well in the Ghadames Basin of Libya. It flowed 280 bopd and 10 MMcfd from Mamunivat and deeper Devonian reservoirs. The well was drilled to a 4,075-ft TD at a location about 562 mi south of Tripoli. Woodside operates with 63% interest in partnership with state firm NOC (37%).

Europe. StatoilHydro Petroleum made a small oil discovery with its 30/8-4S on PL 190 in the Norwegian Sea. Reserves from Tarbet reservoirs are estimated to be 3.4−15.7 million bbl. The well was drilled to a TD of 13,632 ft in 308 ft of water, about 1 mi south of the Oseberg complex. StatoilHydro operates with 50% interest in partnership with Petoro (40%) and Total E&P Norge (10%).

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