VEGAS OIL & GAS SA WAS ON COURSE to suspending the new field wildcat Al Magd 1 (Hh 31-2) as a discovery as of March 15, 2008. The well is located in the Alam El Shawish West block (Block I). The Total Depth as of mid March was 3,200metres, but the prognosed Total Depth PTD was 3,487metres. Vegas officials say that the main objective of the well were the Abu Roash “C”, “E” and “G” units and the Bahariya Formation. The rig is L/R “Nafla-2.
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SIPETROL IS TARGETING THE BAHARIYA and Kharita Formations in the new field wildcat Shahd SE 1, located in East Ras Qattara block, North Egypt basin. The proposed total depth is 2,970m. The well was spudded on the last day of February 2008 and was drilling as of the time we were going to press.
ALGERIA
FRANCE BASED INDEPENDENT MEDEX, has suspended the appraisal well lssaouane Nord B-2 at a depth of 972metres. The target was F2 sandstones. The well is located in onshore Erg Issaouane Block 226, in Illizi Basin in South Eastern Algeria. Issaouane Nord B-2 was logged before suspension.
Mauritania
PETRONAS, THE STATE HYDROCARBONcompany of Malaysia, has spudded a new field wildcat Khop 1 off Mauritania. The well, being drilled by the semi submersible rig Atwood Hunter, is located in Block 6 of the PSC Area C, 70km off the coastline in water depth of 925m. The well is targeting a four-way dip Albian structure of 220 sq km, with a vertical closure of l,200m. The proposed Total Depth (PTD) is 4320metres. Partners are expecting recoverable reserves ranging from a 100MMBO (P90) to 1,000MMBO(P90). Petronas operates Block 6 with 72.578% and its partners include Tullow 22 .422%, Roe 5%.
Sudan
LUND1N PETROLEUM HAS REPORTED the spud of a new field wildcat, Wan Machar-1, in Sudan’s Block SB. The well, the second to be drilled in the company’s ongoing exploration programme, is located in the swamp area of the block, on the eastern flank of the basin. Lundin says the planned total depth of the well is 1,700 meters and the
partners on the block are targeting the Upper to Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs that have proved highly productive in other producing fields in the Muglad Basin. Lundin said the gross unrisked recoverable reserves for the Wan Macbar prospect is estimated at 1,542 million barrels. The partners in Block 5B are Petronas as the operator with 39%, Lundin Petroleum holds 24.5%, ONGC Videsh Ltd. has a 23.5% stake, and Sudapet Ltd. holds 13%. Lundin said that the partners have accepted the recommendation of the National Petroleum Commission to assign a 10% share to the National Oil Company of Southern Sudan to be allocated on a “pro rata” basis from each of the partners’ shares.
Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO of Lundin Petroleum, said that Wan Macbar is a world class exploration prospect which if successful “will transform Lundin Petroleum”. He said: “We remain optimistic on the overall prospectivity of the Muglad Basin and its extension into block 5B, an area of over 20,000 km2 which is virtually unexplored to date.”
KALDA HAS COMPLETEDA GAS ZONE IN new field wildcat Flanders 1, located in the Matruh development lease in the North Egypt Basin, Western Desert. The reservoir is in the Lower Safa member of the Alam El Bueib formation. The total depth of the well was 4,487metres and the rig was EDC rig 51.
LUNDIN HAS CONFIRMED that Nya- 1, drilled in Sudan’s Block 58, was a duster. The well was drilled on dry land in the Muglad Basin block., “No oil shows were recorded”, Lundin said in a press release, which added that the well did encounter “minor gas shows” and all the samples and data from the drilling will be “analyzed and studied in further detail.”
EGYPT
CNPC IS APPRAISING DISCOVERIES IN Egypt’s Oued Mya Basin. The onshore-focused Chinese state hydrocarbon company was drilling Bou Khezana4 (BKZ) in El M’Zaid block 438b, Oued Mya basin, in early March 2008. The targets are Silurian and Devonian. The well was drilling ahead at 2,479m as of March 5, 2008.
FIRST CALGARY HAS COMPLETED HAS completed operations on four wells in the past five months, and is drilling on three other locations, in Block 405b in the Berkine Basin. From July to end September 2006 the company worked on GSM I (cased and tested), GSME (cased), LES 4 (drilled and testing) ZER I (cased and tested) and is currently drilling appraisal wells MZLS 2, MZLN 2 and MZLN 3. The high level of activity has been prompted by fact that at the end of 2006 the license will go into the production development stage. By then, whichever part of the acreage that does not host a discovery will revert back to Sonatrach, Algeria’s state hydrocarbon company. The 2006 programme has therefore focused on new untested exploration areas and remote appraisal locations to define the boundaries of discoveries. The company says that ZER 1 tested hydrocarbons at sufficient rates to support the drilling of a second well, ZER 2, that will be located 4.3km to the south-west and that GSM 1 recovered hydrocarbons. The significance of the latter wildcat will be better understood following the testing of GSME I, which was underway at the time of our going to press. The company has now formed the view that a new core area has been identified in the central part of the acreage to the west of MLE field. Two further appraisal wells are planned before the end of 2006, LES 6 and LEC 2. Regarding the MLE field, a number of issues are being advanced and it is hoped the field will be onstream in 2009.
CANDAX ENERGY INC, THE CANADIAN Independent, continues to experience difficulties in the redevelopment of its El Bibane oil field offshore Tunisia. Additional contractor delays to the mobilization of the jack-up drilling barge to drill the three well redevelopment programme at El Bibane were cited as reason behind continued change of the drilling date. Alternate drilling solution arrangements are subject to rig availability in the current tight rig market. The company is however evaluating engineering options that might provide it with an early production start-up, prior to implementation of the full redevelopment programme. The mobilization of support barges and vessels commenced in mid—September 2006, and the main drilling barge unit would be mobilized to Tunisia on a later date. The various units for the mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) will be assembled at the Tunisian operations base, and additional components installed prior to receiving the final certification, including the top-drive for the rig and bases/feet for the jack-up legs. Production start-up from EBB4 is still expected to commence towards year end, with full field production anticipated by the end of first quarter 2007.
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