Nido Petroleum finds oil off Philippines

Nido Petroleum Ltd., Perth, said its Yakal-1 wildcat in SC54 of the Northwest Palawan basin off the Philippines has encountered a 66-m gross oil column.

No definitive oil-water contact has been determined.

Nido will evaluate the find with a logging suite and fluid sampling to clarify the extent of the column below 1,839 m.

The jack up rig WilBoss drilled Yakal-1 to 1,975 m TD. Yakal-1 is the first exploration well drilled in the area in the past decade. The drill site is in the northeastern part of SC54 south of the producing Malampaya gas and oil field.

Nido holds a 60% interest, and joint venture partner Kairiki Energy has the remaining 40%.

Field work has begun in support of a 350 sq km 3D seismic survey in eastern onshore Brunei, said Loon Energy Inc., Calgary.

The survey is to be finished by the end of 2008 on 550,000-acre Block L. It covers most of eastern Brunei and involves some offshore shooting.

Nations Petroleum SE Asia Ltd. is conducting the survey as part of its commitment to fund the first $20.5 million in exploration on the block to earn a 50% working interest.

Giant Champion and Seria oil fields lie within 25 km of the block, which has had some historic production but no exploration and development for 20 years. Other interests are Loon 40% and QAF Brunei Sdn. Bhd. 10%.

Kazakhstan’s Central Committee for Development approved plans by Arawak Energy Ltd., St. Helier, Jersey, UK, to develop Akzhar and Besbolek oil fields in the Precaspian basin.

The first Besbolek well is to spud within days, and four rigs are to be drilling by mid-October. Previously shut-in wells are being returned to production.

The fields had NI 51-101 proved and probable reserves of 23.4 million and 7.9 million bbl of oil, respectively, as of Dec. 31, 2007.

Jura Energy Corp., Calgary, and Petroleum Exploration (Pvt.) Ltd. of Pakistan each plan to assign a 12.5% interest in six Pakistan concessions to Gulf Petroleum Exploration International Ltd. of Kuwait.

The concessions are Badin IV North, Badin IV South, Kandra, Salam, Mirpur Mathelo, and Karsal. The Kandra assignment excludes the Sui Main limestone development.

GPX will pay 66.67% of the first $6 million in expenditures to drill the first four exploration wells of the work program in the blocks, 58.33% of the first $6 million to drill the next five exploration wells, and 50% of the first $6 million to drill two more wells as long as the first nine wells result in at least four commercial discoveries. Jura Energy will receive $4.25 million toward historical costs from GPX.

Block operator PEL let a long-term contract to Weatherford Drilling International for a new rig that is drilling the Kandra 4D well, the first of the nine committed exploration wells. Next the rig will move to the Badin IV North block.

Operators hope to start production in late 2008 from a coalbed methane project in Northeast British Columbia.

Canada Energy Partners Inc., Vancouver, BC, with 50% interest, and the undisclosed partner as operator have drilled and run fracs on five wells and connected them and three previously shut-in wells to the Spectra Energy pipeline that crosses the lease near Hudson’s Hope northwest of Dawson Creek, BC.

The 50,188-acre Peace River project property has room for 315 wells on 160-acre spacing.

Capital spending exceeds $36 million (Canadian) since 2001, on four core holes, four water disposal wells, and nine production-tested wells. Consulting engineers estimate a discovered resource of more than 2.3 tcf of gas excluding carbon dioxide.

Petrolia, Rimouski, Que., completed large-scale surface geochemical and geomicrobial surveys on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Quebec.

The aim of the surveys is to detect potential light hydrocarbon microseepage in order to prioritize a number of structures already identified on seismic surveys. Petrolia collected 1,700 samples at a cost of about $500,000.

Petrolia holds interests in more than 6,000 sq km on Anticosti and is operator of 68% of the acreage.

Garrett and Allegany counties in westernmost Maryland have become areas of interest in the Appalachian basin Devonian Marcellus gas shale play since 2006, said the Maryland Geological Survey, Baltimore.

Lodge Energy LP, a private Fort Worth company, has leased 36,000 acres in western Maryland for $1,150/acre and 16% royalty, said a report by analysts Jefferies & Co.

The report did not identify the location of the acreage.

Western Maryland has produced modest volumes of gas in the past from other formations.

The Lower Delaware River Wild and Scenic Management Committee plans to sample waterways around the Delaware River in advance of drilling in Bucks County, eastern Pa.

The committee will use a $25,000 National Park Service grant to obtain baseline data before Arbor Resources LLC of Michigan drills in the far north Philadelphia suburb, press reports said.

Arbor Resources has state permits to drill two exploratory wells in Nockamixon Township in the Newark basin (see map, OGJ, Feb. 2, 2007, p. 36).

Delta Petroleum Corp., Denver, signed land deals increasing its land position and spreading its risk in the Columbia River basin in Washington and Oregon, where the company and its undisclosed partner plan to drill at least three exploratory wells, including the Gray 31-23.

Delta acquired all of EnCana Corp.’s leasehold position and interest in wells in the basin in Washington, bringing Delta’s leasehold to 844,000 acres.

Delta also formed a joint venture with a major Canadian energy company to sell a 50% working interest participation in its leasehold and wells in the basin. That agreement, when closed, will reduce Delta’s position to 422,000 net acres.