Area Drilling

Bangladesh

Production from the two wells in Beanibazar gas field was expected to begin in June, adding some 40 MMcfd to the National Gas Grid.

The field, discovered in 1969, will also produce 500-600 b/d of condensate, to be processed to gasoline, diesel, and kerosine.

This was disclosed at the 16th annual general meeting of Sylhet Gas Field Ltd. of Bangladesh (SGFL).

SGFL's annual report noted that three new wells are to be completed by June 2000 in Rashidpur gas field.

India

ONGC let a contract to Sedco Forex to drill a well on deepwater acreage near the Andaman Islands.

The $10 million well is to go to at least 3,300 ft to test one of several structures that the Director General of Hydrocarbons located on 3D seismic data.

The Indian government, financing an exploratory well for the first time, will reimburse ONGC from funds collected for the Oil Industry Development Board.

ONGC plans to bid for many blocks under the New Exploration Licensing Policy. It wants to join multinational oil companies in exploring the deepwater blocks, which it feels are highly prospective.

Offshore drilling in the Kutch basin is on tap by early 2000.

A group led by Tullow Oil plc has interpreted seismic on a 1,275 sq km block awarded a year ago. ONGC and Indian engineering/cement firm Lar- sen & Toubro are participating, while Joshi Technologies Inc., Tulsa, Okla., withdrew.

Ukraine

Boards of Carpatsky Petroleum Inc., Calgary, and Pease Oil & Gas Co., Grand Junction, Colo., approved a merger under which, upon closing, the combined firm will locate in Houston under one Pease and four Carpatsky directors.

Two wells in Carpatsky-operated Rudovsko-Chervonozavodskoye field in the Dneiper-Donets basin average a combined 14 MMcfd of gas and 116 b/d of condensate. A third well flowed 59.3 MMcfd of gas on a 1/2 in. choke in late May from the T-3 horizon, the field's deepest (OGJ, Nov. 23, 1998, p. 63).

Two more wells are being completed for hookup in third quarter 1999, and another well is to reach TD of 18,000 ft by then.

Carpatsky-operated Bitkov field in the Carpathian basin produces more than 100 b/d of oil and 500-600 Mcfd of gas. The company's Ukrainian partner has indicated that more properties may be available in the future.

Pease holds properties in Louisiana and Texas.

Quebec

Corridor Resources Inc., Halifax, N.S., will drill a slim hole exploratory test to 8,000 ft this August onshore near Fatima on Cap-aux-Meules island 150 miles southeast of Gaspe.

The site is in the Magdalen basin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where Corridor holds about 285,000 acres (OGJ, Sept. 28, 1998, p. 107). The well will be drilled under a farmout agreement with Foothills Minerals Inc., Tampa, Fla. A second, conventional well is possible by Dec. 1, 2000.

Gulf of Mexico

The U.S. Minerals Management Service will study the environmental affects of MMS-regulated geological and geophysical activities in the gulf.

MMS let a $172,199 contract to Continental Shelf Associates Inc., Jupiter, Fla., to prepare an environmental assessment during 13 months. The firm will look at all aspects of G&G exploration with particular emphasis on seismic operations.

MMS will pursue further action if results indicate that aspects of G&G exploration may represent significant impacts under National Environmental Policy Act guidelines.

Kentucky

More gas is flowing from the Cambrian Rome formation in Isonville Consolidated field in Elliott County.

Statoil Energy Inc., Alexandria, Va., said the 34 Kazee Unit is producing 944 Mcfd of gas on choke from about 7,000 ft and the 39 Fannin Unit is producing 774 Mcfd. Rates should increase once reservoir testing and completion designs are finalized.

Statoil's 1 Smith, in Morgan County about 7 miles south, found shallower pay in Rose Run sandstones.

Louisiana

North Central Oil Corp., Houston, staked two wildcats in the gulf off St. Bernard Parish.

The 1 and 2 State Lease 16172, on Main Pass Block 10, are projected to 10,500 ft and 13,500 ft, respectively, IHS Energy Group reported.

Oklahoma

Surface gamma-ray profiles of the Pennsylvanian Hartshorne formation in eastern Oklahoma are compared with outcrops and wireline logs in an article in Oklahoma Geology Notes.

Gamma-ray profiling has proved its worth in exploration in the Hartshorne and other sandstone formations by helping to predict subsurface depositional environments and rock types, say the authors, Richard D. Andrews and Neil H. Suneson of the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

Pennsylvania

Somerset Oil & Gas Co., Buffalo, N.Y., plans to drill 125 wells in 1999 in Clearfield, Westmoreland, and Jefferson counties. Budget is $15 million.

The company drilled and completed 70 Upper Devonian wells in 1998 in Clearfield and Westmoreland counties, bringing its holdings to 1,225 wells, all in Pennsylvania.

Texas

East Amoco Production Co. released data on a Cotton Valley lime discovery completed in summer 1998.

The 1 Dinkins, in western Leon County near the company's Vanderbeek and Grassy Lake discoveries, flowed 3.586 MMcfd of gas on a 15/64 in. choke with 1,845 psi FTP and 40 b/d of water from open hole at 17,010-18,400 ft. It is about 11/4 miles northeast of the Vanderbeek discovery well, IHS reported.

Panhandle
Unit Petroleum Co., Tulsa, is drilling a fourth 1999 well in Hemphill field in Hemphill County of the Anadarko basin, where it completed three wells earlier this year.

The 2 Chumbley is selling 2.8 MMcfd of gas and 30 b/d of condensate at 1,100 psi FTP from Pennsylvanian Douglas at 7,900 ft.

The 1 Chumbley and 1 Shell wells are selling 1 MMcfd and 12 b/d and 1.9 MMcfd and 37 b/d, respectively, from Douglas.

West Virginia

Statoil Energy Inc. said its 34 McDonald Land Co. in Logan County flowed 6 MMcfd of gas, natural, from a Devonian Lower Huron shale. It is on production at 1 MMcfd.