Chevron makes natural gas discovery offshore Western Australia
Chevron Corp.'s Australian subsidiary has made a natural gas discovery in the Exmouth Plateau area of the Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia.
The Vos-1 well encountered approximately 453 feet of net gas pay. Located in the WA-439-P permit area approximately 186 miles from Exmouth on the Western Australian coast, the well was drilled in 4869 feet of water to a depth of 12,461 feet.
George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron Corp., said, "The find at Vos-1 represents our twelfth offshore discovery in Australia since mid-2009. Our successful drilling program offshore Western Australia demonstrates Chevron's global exploration capability."
Melody Meyer, president, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company, said, "Our on-going exploration success continues to add to our Australian resource base, further underpinning our drive to be a leading supplier of liquefied natural gas to world markets and natural gas to Western Australia."
Chevron's Australian subsidiary is the operator of WA-439-P and holds a 50% interest, with Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd holding the remaining 50%.
Statoil makes large discoveries in North Sea, Barents Sea
Oil giant Statoil made two large discoveries recently. On January 4, the company's drilling of the Skinfaks South well in the North Sea was completed and the estimated volume was reported between 1.9 and 6.9 million barrels of oil equivalents.
The Skinfaks South well is the fourth infrastructure-near discovery in the Gullfaks area in a 10 month period.
Light oil has been confirmed in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (Brent group) and an 80 meter high column in good-quality reservoir rocks.
"We are currently evaluating how this discovery can be connected to the existing infra-structure," said Tore Løseth, exploration vice president for North Sea.
Skinfaks South is located directly west of the Gullfaks field in the North Sea Tampen area, where Statoil is focusing on infrastructure-led exploration (ILX).
"Our exploration strategy for the Norwegian continental shelf focuses both on high-impact discoveries and what we call time-critical ILX, which is exploration close to installations that within a couple of years will have the capacity to receive the oil and gas we find," Løseth said.
Discovered in 1978 the Gullfaks field contained an estimated 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The discovery of fields such as Gullfaks South, Rimfaks and Valemon has later added another billion barrels of oil equivalent to the area.
Statoil has continued its exploration activities around Gullfaks, and in one year four new discoveries have been made: Rutil, Opal, Brent 10 A/B and now Skinfaks South. They will add a total of 50-100 million barrels of oil equivalents.
On January 9, Statoil, together with its partners Eni Norge AS and Petoro AS, reported a "substantial" oil discovery in the Havis prospect in the same licence as Skrugard (PL532) in the Barents Sea.
Well 7220/7-1, drilled by the drilling rig Transocean Barents (UDW semisub), has proved a 48 meter gas column and a 128 meter oil column.
Statoil estimates the volumes in Havis to be between 200 and 300 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents. The provisional, updated total volume estimate for the Skrugard and Havis discoveries in PL532 is in the region of 400-600 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents.
"Havis is our second high impact oil discovery in the Barents Sea in nine months. The discovery's volume and reservoir properties make it Skrugard's twin. Skrugard and Havis open up a new petroleum province in the North," says Helge Lund, president and CEO of Statoil ASA.
Havis lies approximately 7 kilometers southwest of the Skrugard discovery, made in April of last year. Havis lies within the same production license, but forms an independent structure. There is no communication between the two discoveries.
Statoil has been exploring in the Barents Sea for more than 30 years and the company has been involved in 88 of a total 92 exploration wells drilled in the area.
"The Havis discovery boosts the development of Skrugard as a versatile new center with processing and transport capacity. We are about to realize the Barents Sea as a core area on the Norwegian continental shelf," says Statoil's Erik Strand Tellefsen, vice president for Skrugard development.
Well 7220/7-1 is the second well in production license 532, which was awarded in 2009 in connection with the 20th licensing round. The well is drilled to a vertical depth of 2200 meters below sea level at a sea depth of 365 meters.
Statoil is operator for production licence PL532 with an ownership share of 50%. The license partners are Eni Norge AS (30%) and Petoro AS (20%).
Exceptional 2011 and bright outlook for Norway in 2012
Wood Mackenzie's latest analysis of the Norwegian Upstream oil and gas industry shows that 2011 was an exceptional year for the Norwegian Upstream sector with one of world's largest recent oil discoveries revealed in the mature North Sea; key deals completed; an increase in capital spending and licensing reaching a new high.
One giant find dominated the headlines in Norway in 2011, as Avaldsnes Aldous overshadowed earlier discoveries when the announced reserves for the field rocketed. Norway Analyst for Wood Mackenzie's Europe upstream research team, Mr. Malcolm Dickson explains: "The reserves estimates for Avaldsnes Aldous range from 1.7 to 3.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which means the field could be the third largest Norwegian find of all time. It is a unique giant discovery in global terms, as it is in a mature area, which should allow development to proceed quickly."
Wood Mackenzie expects to see huge upside uncovered by exploration and appraisal (E&A) wells in Norway, particularly at the Avaldsnes Aldous and Skrugard discoveries in 2012. The year has started well with a 250 MMboe discovery on Havis in the Barents, close to Skrugard.
Wood Mackenzie's annual review of 2011 also covers corporate activity and the asset market, as Dickson offers: "The total value of commercial upstream assets transferred doubled to US$2.3 billion in 2011, though the number of transactions remained fairly stable, the character of the deals and the value achieved is remarkable." Two deals stand out: The Avaldsnes Aldous discovery freed Statoil to make its first material upstream divestment in Norway and agree a US$1.6 billion deal with Centrica. State-representative Petoro also made a landmark swap deal with Faroe Petroleum.
Development spending increased in 2011 and Norway remained in the top five globally for capital expenditure. The majority of this was spent on large mature developments like Ekofisk and Troll. New development spending centred on Skarv and Goliat, which are expected onstream in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Only three fields were brought onstream in 2011, as some start-ups were delayed and approval was granted for eight developments. We expect there to be an increase in approvals and developments brought onstream in 2012.
Finally, in 2011, the acreage awarded for exploration was the greatest since 1965. Almost all of the companies active in Norway increased their acreage through licensing activity. Anticipation of new rounds was high, not least due to the interest generated by the giant Avaldsnes Aldous discovery. Progress will be made in 2012 towards the formal opening of the East Barents Sea area for exploration, and the eventual opening of the areas around the Lofoten Islands towards the end of the decade.
Maersk strikes oil offshore Angola
Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola Empresa Publica (Sonangol EP), Maersk Oil and other partners declared the Azul-1 deepwater exploration well, located in Block 23 in the Kwanza Basin, a discovery well.
The Azul-1 well, the first to penetrate pre-salt objectives in Angolan deepwater, was drilled in water depths of 923 meters and reached a final depth of 5,334 meters. The condition of the well prevented an assessment of flow capacity by a conventional test. This was performed as a mini-Drill Stem Test that enabled the recovery of two good quality oil samples.
The preliminary interpretation of the data indicated a potential flow capacity greater than 3,000 barrels of oil a day. Taking into account these encouraging results, Maersk Oil will further evaluate the results of this discovery and will proceed with exploration work in the block.
Sonangol EP is the block Concessionaire. Maersk Oil is operator of Block 23 with a 50% working interest with partners Svenska (30%) and Sonangol P & P (20%).
"We are encouraged by the results of our first pre-salt exploration well in this region, which was also the first ever deep water well targeting pre-salt reservoirs in the Kwanza Basin. The result may be a further step towards our goal of building up a significant business in Angola," said Lars Nydahl Jorgensen, Head of Exploration at Maersk Oil.
"There is substantial evaluation work ahead of us to determine whether the discovery is enough to invest further to get production going. This will be done by, amongst other things, state of the art reprocessing of seismic data. Fully appraising the discovery will take several years and it is far too early to guess the outcome," Jorgensen said.
LNG Energy finds gas in Bulgarian well
LNG Energy announced January 9 that the Peshtene R-11 well in Bulgaria has been successfully drilled to its total depth of 3,190 meters under the farm-in agreement with TransAtlantic Worldwide, a wholly owned subsidiary of TransAtlantic Petroleum.
The Peshtene R-11 well, located on the A-Lovech exploration license, targeted the Middle Jurassic age Etropole formation. Peshtene was successfully drilled in a total of 56 days to a depth of 3,190 meters, including 354 meters of Etropole argillite.
Numerous gas shows were recorded in the argillite, consisting of methane, ethane and propane (C1, C2, and C3). Over 289 meters of the Jurassic age Etropole and Ozirovo whole core has been taken from the well. The Ozirovo formation produces nearby in the Chiren Gas Field and in TransAtlantic's Deventci R1 discovery ell 36 kilometers to the east.
Petrophysical analysis of the Etropole formation indicates net pay of 114 meters, with an average porosity of 6% and water saturation of 48%. Comprehensive core analysis by Core Laboratories is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012. The core data from the Etropole argillite and Ozirovo carbonate will be evaluated for reservoir rock properties, geochemical analysis, and rock mechanics.
The results of the core and well log analysis will help to design and plan the future completion procedure for the well. Peshtene is scheduled to be completed and tested in Q2, 2012. Based on the data recovered to date, TransAtlantic's subsidiary, Direct Petroleum Bulgaria EOOD, has applied to the government of Bulgaria for a Production Concession. The Stefanetz Concession is expected to cover an area up to 1,600 square kilometers (395,000 acres) for a term of up to 35 years.
"We are excited with the very positive gas shows and data obtained in the Peshtene," commented Dave Afseth, president and CEO of LNG. "We look forward to reviewing the results of the core analyses that will enable us to design and implement an appropriate stimulation to flow test both the Peshtene and Starogard wells."
Kharsang well flows for Jubilant Energy
Jubilant Energy NV said January 10 that KSG#60 (previously known as KPL-G), the third of the seven phase III development wells in the Kharsang Field, has successfully flowed oil and gas from separate horizons, and has put oil into production.
The well KSG#60, spud on October 5, 2011, was successfully drilled to a target depth of 1,470 meters measured depth (MD) (1,432 meters true vertical depth) on November 27, 2011. The well was tested with a smaller capacity work-over rig which was mobilized on December 2, 2011.
Based on the results of the wireline log interpretation, drill cutting and coring operations, and formation pressure data from the Reservoir Dynamic Tester, the consortium identified twelve sand intervals totaling to approximately 74 meters of net sand for testing. The well flowed oil from the fourth interval between 1,304-1,310 meters MD from the Girujan Sand and is currently producing at a rate of around 125 bopd.
The two deeper sands at 1,432-1,435 meters and 1,400.5 -1,406.5 meters MD tested gas, which flowed at rates of 0.67 mmscfd and 0.78 mmscfd, respectively, through a 4 millimeter bean.
The third sand in the interval at 1,358-1,362 meters MD tested water.
The other eight remaining shallower intervals, totaling 55 meters of net sand, will be tested at a later date.
GeoEnpro Petroleum Ltd., a joint venture of GeoPetrol and Jubilant Enpro (a member of the wider Jubilant Bhartia Group), is the operator of the Kharsang Field. Jubilant holds a 25% interest in the block through its subsidiary, Jubilant Energy (Kharsang) Pvt Ltd. The other members of the consortium are Oil India Ltd and GeoPetrol.
OGDCL discovers hydrocarbons in Pakistan well
Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. (OGDCL), operator (with 95% working interest) of Zin Exploration License, together with its joint venture partner Government Holdings Private Ltd. (5% carried working interest) has discovered a hydrocarbon bearing horizon in its exploratory well Zin X-1, located in District Dera Bugti, Balochistan.
Zin X-1 well was drilled down to the depth of 2300 M targeting to test the hydrocarbon potential of Pab Sandstone and Sui main limestone formations. Significant reserves of hydrocarbons have been found at Zin X-1 well. The first targeted zone Pab Sandstone of Cretaceous age has tested 5.48 MMCFD gas through 32/64" choke at well head flowing pressure 1050 Psi. This discovery will add to the hydrocarbon reserves' base of the company and its joint venture partner.
More Oil & Gas Financial Journal Archives Issue Articles
View Oil and Gas Articles on PennEnergy.com
