Exploration discoveries

	Vol. 228 No.11
ARTHUR BERMAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, bermanae@gmail.com

Africa. Apache’s ERB-A-1X well tested 1,910 bopd in Egypt’s onshore East Ras Budran Concession. The well was drilled to an 11,921-ft TVD to the primary objective section in the Darat Limestone.

RWE Dea reported a third onshore oil discovery in Libya in Block NC195 of the Sirte Basin. The A1-NC195 exploration well found pay in the Dahra Formation at a depth of 4439 ft, and in the Beda formation at a depth of 4780 ft. The well tested 1,981 bopd.

Anadarko Petroleum Company discovered oil in the Berkine Basin of Algeria, Block 403c/e. The well tested 870 bopd and was drilled to a TD of 11,848 ft.

Noble Energy made two significant discoveries in offshore West Africa. The first was the company’s I-2 exploration well drilled offshore Equatorial Guinea on the Benita prospect in Block I. The well encountered 148 ft of net gas and condensate pay in high-quality Miocene reservoir rock, and tested 1,038 bcpd and 34.3 MMcfgd. It is located in 3,120 ft of water, 26 mi east of Bioko Island, and was drilled to a 10,580-ft TD.

Noble’s other discovery was offshore Cameroon in the Gulf of Guinea. The YoYo-1 exploration well tested 330 bcpd and 31 MMcfgd from a Miocene reservoir. The well, located in Block PH-77, was drilled in 1,732 ft of water and reached a 8,425-ft TD.

Asia. Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) made a discovery with its KG-28 well, offshore India in the Bay of Bengal Block KG-OSN-2001/3. The well tested up to 10.6 MMcfgd and 22 bcpd from 162 ft of perforations below 16,527 ft. The KG-28 well confirms the extension of the Deen Dayal discovery announced previously.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) discovered oil in the Krishna Basin in the Bay of Bengal, India in Block KG-DWN-98/1 (KG-D4). The Dhirubhai-36 well tested 596 bopd from 66 ft of Mesozoic pay near a TD of 11,795 ft. The well is located in water depth of 1,854 ft.

Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) discovered oil and gas in the Hala Block 2568-13 in the Sindh Province of central Pakistan, about 90 mi northeast of Karachi. The Adam X-1 well tested 1,310 bcpd and 27.4 MMcfgd, and was drilled to a TD of 11,699 ft.

Europe. Pertra discovered oil with its wildcat well drilled in the North Sea in 295 ft of water in Block 15/12, Norway Production License 337. The well encountered 118 ft of pay in the Paleocene Ty Formation at a depth of 8,366 ft. Pertra plans to continue drilling to a TD of 10,827 ft to evaluate Jurassic and Triassic objectives.

Statoil made an oil discovery in its Ragnarrock prospect, North Sea in Block 16/2, Norway. Pay was found in Cretaceous reservoirs in the Sleipner field area, 35 km east of the Gudrun field.

Norsk Hydro discovered a significant gas field with its 6407/7-7S well in the Norway North Sea, Block 6407/7. The company estimates recoverable reserves of up to 212 Bcf gas and 16 million bbl of condensate. The well was drilled in 1,096 ft of water to an 11,962-ft TD.

Middle East-Caspian. Petrolinvest found oil in the Zhubantam G-4D well in the Zhubantam Block, onshore Kazakhstan. The company estimates recoverable oil reserves of about 250 MMbbl. The well was drilled to a TD of 2,464 ft.

National Iranian Oil Company said that new exploration discoveries have added significant reserves to oil and gas fields in the onshore Fars Province of Iran. Sefid Zakhour Field is estimated to have 11.4 Tcf of in-place gas reserves. Anaran Field’s in-place reserves have increased to 2.7 Bbbl oil, and nearby Paranj Field discovery is now estimated to contain recoverable reserves of 600-1,000 bbl oil. Reservoirs are at about 17,000 ft.

US. Contango Oil & Gas’ Mary Rose-1 well discovered oil and gas in Louisiana state waters, Gulf of Mexico, six miles off Louisiana on State Lease 18640. Estimated proved reserves are 226 Bcf equivalent when combined with Contango’s adjacent Dutch discovery announced in June, 2007. Two wells on the Dutch field are currently producing at a combined rate of 65 MMcfgd.

SE Asia-Pacific. Innamincka Petroleum’s Flax East-1 exploration well is a discovery in the onshore Cooper Basin in South Australia, Block PEL103. The company estimates that the Flax and adjacent Juniper oil discoveries have combined in-place resources of about 120 million bbl. Net pay of 33 ft is from Permian Patchawarra and Tirrawarra reservoirs.

South America. Geopark has discovered a new onshore gas field in the onshore Austral Basin of extreme southern Chile (Magallanes Region XII). The San Miguel-1 well is currently testing about 3 MMcfgd and 65 bcd from the Springhill Formation at a depth of 9,908 ft.

Solana Resources discovered oil in its Tres Curvas-1 well in northeast Colombia near the Venezuelan frontier. The well, drilled on the Catguas Block, found potential oil pay in six zones within the Los Cuervos, Barco and Catatumbo Formations above a 3,550-ft TD.