By an OGJ correspondent
LIMA, Apr. 5 -- Occidental Petroleum Corp. is expanding its exploration program in Peru with the incorporation of Block 101, which lies near the company's first oil find made in that country more than 30 years ago.
Oxy also began exploration work in neighboring Block 64 since Peru state oil firm Perupetro lifted the force majeure Mar. 17 on the block after a 6-year hold.
Donald Lipinski, Occidental Petrolera's newly appointed president and general manager in Peru, reported Apr. 2 that the company also started negotiations with Perupetro for an exploration and production contract on Block 103, seeking new opportunities.
Block 103, which lies in the central subandean areas of the Loreto and San Martin regions, also is close to Blocks 64 and 101.
Block 101's work program includes an environmental impact study (to include active participation with indigenous communities), geological studies, and the reprocessing and interpretation of 1,000 km of 2D seismic. In 2006 the company plans to drill the first of four wells, Lipinski said.
Currently, work is under way on Block 64's Situche complex with a base camp now in the construction phase on the banks of the Morona River. Oxy expects to drill two wells back-to-back by yearend in Situche Norte and by mid-2005 in Situche Sur.
The company also has requested an expansion to its EIS in order to shoot more 2D seismic and allow for additional drilling.
Oxy, which first found oil on Block 1-A and later expanded to Block 1-AB, was Peru's main oil producer from the late 1975 through 2000. In 2000 Oxy sold its shares in Block 1-AB to Argentina's Pluspetrol.
