December 1998 Vol. 219 No. 12  Exploration

Perry A. Fischer,  Engineering Editor

Exploration around the world; seismic goes remote

Two licenses offshore West Greenland have been awarded to groups lead by Statoil and Phillips Petroleum; and in about six months, the first offshore exploration well in more than 20 years will spud.

Greenlandic and Danish governments have jointly decided to reconsider their strategy for petroleum exploration. The goal is to develop policy to promote exploration on- and offshore, including areas offshore Northwest and Northeast Greenland, which previously had been closed. Also to be resolved is whether to continue the open-door policy in the West Greenland region south of 70°30', or initiate more formal licensing rounds. Pending a decision in early 1999, the open-door policy has been suspended.

A working group has been established consisting of members of the Danish Energy Agency, the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP), and the Geologic Survey of Denmark and Greenland. BMP was formed in July 1998, when administration of mineral resources was transferred to the Greenland Home Rule Government. The group welcomes input from interested oil and seismic companies. Contact Peter Bach by telephone at +299 34 68 00 or e-mail at pb@gh.gl.

North Alaska leases. The U.S. Interior Department formally accepted a plan to open a new section of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) for oil and gas leasing. Although activity is still under severe restrictions, 87% of the northeast quadrant is now eligible for leases. According to API, it is unfortunate that other sections of the reserve, those that hold perhaps the greatest potential for large oil and gas deposits, remain off-limits.

New technologies, such as horizontal drilling and 3-D seismic surveys, allow the industry to use less surface area, reducing the so-called "footprint" dramatically, said API. The footprint is a fraction of what it was when drilling pads were first constructed on Alaska’s North Slope. Even so, radical environmentalists, those perennially opposed to any exploration whatsoever, can be counted on to bring lawsuits that will slow exploration efforts.

With oil production declining in the North Slope area, new production in the NPR-A, although several years away from being realized, will help keep the 800-mi Trans Alaska Pipeline in operation.

South Alaska discovery. Anadarko Petroleum and ARCO announced test results from an exploratory discovery well located in Cook Inlet, south central Alaska, about 40 mi west of Anchorage.

The Moquawkie discovery well, known as Lone Creek 1, flowed 10.6 MMcfgd through a 33/64-in. choke at 925 psi FTP. With 53 ft of perforations at only 2,400 ft deep, this represents one of the best shallow gas tests in the area, especially for a reservoir of this age and type. Several other possible gas zones — about 180 ft — were also encountered in Lone Creek 1, but have not yet been tested. Plans are underway for additional drilling and possible installation of production facilities.

Located only 5 mi from a 16-in. gas pipeline, this is the first well operated by Anadarko in Alaska. Lone Creek 1 is located on lands leased from Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), an Alaskan native corporation. CIRI is the largest private landowner in the area and has actively pursued exploration.

Australian discovery. Mobil made a significant discovery offshore Australia in permit area WA-214-P, about 30 mi northwest of Barrow Island in the Carnarvon basin. This latest discovery well, John Brookes 1, flowed at a combined rate of 53 MMcfgd and 450 bbl of condensate, from two drill stem tests through a maximum 60/64-in. choke. It was drilled to a depth of 12,270 ft in 230 ft of water.

Mobil is operator of the well and has a 35% interest. Its partners are Santos Ltd. (25%), Apache Oil (20%) and Alberta Energy Canada International (20%). Mobil is a participant in the area’s Gorgon LNG project, which has recently been scaled back by about a billion dollars. The project has no long-term sales contracts or letters of intent from gas importers.

Big deepwater discovery. Exxon has made another large deepwater oil discovery, its fourth oil find in Angola Block 15. The Dikanza well was drilled in 3,786 ft of water to a total depth of 8,960 ft, and flowed at a test rate of 4,000 bopd.

Earlier this year, Exxon and partner Sonangol announced the Hungo, Kissanje and Marimba Block 15 discoveries. Dikanza is located about 3 mi northeast of the Hungo discovery. All four wells are located about 230 mi west of Luanda, and represent a super-giant find with recoverable reserves estimated at more than 1 billion boe.

Exxon is operator of Block 15 and has a 40% stake. Sonangol, the Angolan national oil company, is concessionaire of the block. Other partners are BP (27%), Agip (20%) and Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap (13%).

Looking over your shoulder. The idea is to track all aspects of seismic field operations, worldwide, from a central command center. While field operations are underway, live video and data from any seismic crew anywhere in the world may be provided to clients in real time.

This Veritas project, called Millennium Two, is in the early stages of field-testing. Two essential components are manufactured by Input / Output. One component, called System 2000, is a new central electronics unit; and an add-on module, named Telepresence, is a data transmission module that was developed in conjunction with the Veritas project.

Some benefits envisioned by the two companies are: better feedback and control during acquisition, shorter turnaround times, reduced field personnel and operating costs, and real-time project data for clients.

Copyright © 1999 World Oil
Copyright © 1999 Gulf Publishing Company