Exploration discoveries

	Vol. 230 No. 5
ARTHUR BERMAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, bermanae@gmail.com

Americas. Petrobras has made a light oil and gas discovery with its 6-BRSA-661-SPS (6-SPS-53) “Piracuca” well on Block BM-S-7 in Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The company estimates in-place reserves of 550 million boe. The well is in the same block as Merluza Field and was drilled in 700 ft of water about 150 mi south of Sao Paolo. Petrobras operates with 63% interest, with Repsol holding the remainder.

BG discovered oil in its 6-BG-6P-SPS, the Corcovado-1 well on Block BM-S-52 in the Santos Basin subsalt play in offshore Brazil. The well is located about 80 mi off the coast of Sao Paulo state in 2,684 ft of water. BG will continue drilling to its planned TD of 18,751 ft. BG operates with 40% interest with Petrobras holding the rest.

Noble Energy made a discovery with its MC 519-563 “Santa Cruz” well in the Mississippi Canyon area of the US Gulf of Mexico. The well found 250 ft of oil and gas pay in stacked sandstone reservoirs. It was drilled to a 18,900-ft TD in 6,515 ft of water. Noble operates with 23.25% interest with partners BP (46.5%), Red Willow Offshore (20.25%) and Houston Energy (10%).

StatoilHydro announced a discovery with its Mizzen well on Block EL1049 offshore Newfoundland, Canada, in 3,600 ft of water about 310 mi east of St John’s, Newfoundland, but no other details were disclosed. StatoilHydro operates with 65% working interest with Husky Energy holding the remaining 35%.

Arcan Resources Ltd., Calgary, made a gas-condensate discovery with its Hamburg 13-29-095-12w6m well in the Chinchaga-Ladyfern area of northwestern Alberta, Canada. The well flowed 19 MMcfd from Devonian Slave Point reservoirs above an 8,691-ft TD. The discovery is located 150 mi northwest of Grand Prairie, Alberta, near Ladyfern Field. Arcan Resources operates the well with 50% working interest.

St Mary Land & Exploration made a discovery in the Haynesville Shale play with its Johnson Trust 1-2 well in De Soto Parish, Louisiana. The well flowed 4.1 MMcfd during a 24-hour production test following 10-stage hydraulic fracture stimulation in a 3,400-ft lateral borehole.

Europe. StatoilHydro discovered gas with its Asterix Prospect on Block 6705/10 in the Norwegian Sea. Estimated ultimately recoverable reserves from Cretaceous reservoirs are 565 Bcf. The well was drilled to a 12,386-ft TD in 4,462 ft of water, about 215 mi offshore. StatoilHydro operates with 70% interest in partnership with Petoro (20%) and Norske Shell (10%).

In the Norwegian North Sea, StatoilHydro made a small oil discovery with its Vigdis Northeast well on Block 34/8. The company found a 919-ft oil column and estimates recoverable reserves of about 25 million bbl in Lower Jurassic reservoirs. The well was drilled in 950 ft of water near Statfjord and Snorre Fields. StatoilHydro operates with 41.5% interest in partnership with Petoro (30.0%), ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway (10.5%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6%), Total E&P Norge (5.6%), and RWE Dea Norge (2.8%).

Africa-Middle East. Sonatrach International Petroleum Exploration & Production Corp. (Sipex) made a discovery with its wildcat well A1-65/02 on Block A1-65 Area 65 in Libya. It tested 1,344 bopd (48.8° API) and 1.88 MMcfd from Ordovician Mamouniyat sandstone reservoirs from 8,530−8,560 ft. The well was drilled to a TD of 9,033 ft in a location 150 mi south of Tripoli. Sipex operates and holds a 75% interest as part of a production-sharing agreement with NOC, the Libyan state oil company.

Lukoil made a gas and condensate discovery on Block A Ghawar in Saudi Arabia. The company estimates about 515 million bbl of oil and 11 Tcfg of recoverable proved and probable reserves from this well combined with an earlier discovery announced in 2007. The well was drilled to a 16,405-ft TD. Lukoil operates with 80% interest, with Saudi Aramco holding the remaining 20%.

Tullow Oil discovered a deeper oil pool in its Tweneboa-1 exploration well on the Deepwater Tano Block, offshore Ghana. The well was deepened to a TD of 12,290 ft and found 69 ft of oil pay in over-pressured Cretaceous (Turonian) reservoir sandstones. It is located 15 mi northwest of Jubilee Field and was drilled in 3,766 ft of water. Tullow (49.95%) operates and is partnered by Kosmos Energy (18%), Anadarko Petroleum (18%), Sabre Oil & Gas (4.05%) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC) (10% carried interest).

Repsol and its partner OMV made a discovery with their A1-NC202 well in the Sirte Basin offshore Libya. It flowed 1,264 bopd and 0.6 MMcfd from Dernah (Eocene) reservoirs on a production test from 4,484−4,442 ft. The well is located about 9 mi from the coast and 25 mi southwest of Benghazi, and was drilled to a 15,815-ft TD in 165 ft of water. Repsol Exploration Murzuq operates with 21% interest along with OMV Oil and Gas Exploration (14%), and Libya’s National Oil Corp. (65%).

Repsol-YPF discovered gas with its Anchois-1 well on the Tanger-Larache license block, offshore Morocco. The company estimates recoverable reserves of about 100 Bcf from 427 ft of combined pay from two sandstone reservoir intervals. The well was drilled to a 7,989-ft TD and is located about 25 mi from the coast. Repsol YPF operates with 60% interest in partnership with ONHYM (25%) and Dana Petroleum (15%).

Repsol made a gas discovery with its TGFO-1 well on the M’Sari Akabli Block in the Ahnet Basin of onshore Algeria. The well flowed 12.8 MMcfd from Emsian (Devonian) reservoirs, and was drilled to a 7,005-ft TD. Repsol operates with 33.75% interest in partnership with Sonatrach (25%), RWE Dea (22.5%) and Edison (18.75%).

Asia-Pacific. CNOOC made two new oil and gas discoveries in Bohai Bay, China. The Bozhong (BZ) 2-1 well tested 1,270 bopd and 0.4 MMcfd from 167 ft of gross pay. It was drilled to a 12,829-ft TD in 85 ft of water and is located about 4 mi southeast of BZ 3-2 Field in the Bozhong Sag region of Bohai Basin. In the Qinnnan Sag area, CNOOC’s Qinhuangdao (QHD) 29-2 well tested 3,930 bopd and 15.2 MMcfd from 271 ft of gross pay. It was drilled to a 13,094-ft TD in 89 ft of water.