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Nyuni
Block,
Offshore Tanzania
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Bounty
Farms In To East Africa Drilling Program
Bounty
Oil & Gas NL has announced plans to farm in to an East African drilling
program after raising $1.35 MM in a share placement.
Bounty
will farm in to two petroleum wells off the Tanzanian coast. The permit
is currently owned by London based Aminex PLC.
Bounty will earn a 10% interest in the 2,600 km2 Nyuni Block by funding
10% of the costs of the two wells. Bounty Managing Director, Tom Fontaine,
said the two wells, Nyuni-1 and Okuza-1, would test large structural features
delineated by 2D seismic. The first well would be drilled on the Nyuni
Prospect.
"Mapping
indicates that these two features may contain considerable reserves",
Fontaine said. "The Nyuni prospect may hold recoverable reserves
of up to 260 MMbbl of oil or, if gas is present, 870 Bcf. Recoverable
reserves estimates at Okuza range up to 100 MMbbl or 390 Bcf."
The
prospects lay adjacent to the Songo Songo-1 gas discovery which contains
590 Bcf of proved and probable gas reserves. A common user pipeline is
currently under construction and, according to Fontaine, a discovery at
Nyuni could be readily commercialised.
Partners
in the Nyuni Block are Bounty Oil & Gas NL (10%), Aminex PLC (60%)
and Petrom SA (30%).
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Petsec
Energy Hits Gas In Gulf Of Mexico
Sydney
based Petsec Energy has announced that its offshore Louisiana well, West
Cameron 352 A-14-ST, encountered three hydrocarbon bearing sands with
a total of 13 m net gas pay.
At
the time of writing, the well liner was being set prior to being completed
for production. While no reserve numbers are currently available, Petsec
said the well results are consistent with the pre-drill map potential
of 4 to 6 Bcf of natural gas.
Petsec
said it plans to drill the West Cameron 343 A-19 well as soon as current
activities on West Cameron 352 A-14-ST are completed. That well, also
to be drilled from the West Cameron 352 'A' production platform, will
test targets in the adjoining West Cameron 343 lease.
Petsec
Energy has a 100% working interest and an 82.33% net revenue interest
in the West Cameron 343 A-19 well.
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East
Africa Emerges As Key Area For Woodside
East
Africa is emerging as a key area for Woodside's exploration efforts after
its latest African farmin deal gave the company an interest in all of
Kenya's seven offshore exploration blocks that cover nearly 70,000 km2.
Earlier
this year, Woodside farmed into four offshore Kenyan blocks (L5, L7, L10
and L11) in a transaction involving Dana Petroleum and Global Petroleum.
In
the latest deal, Woodside has farmed into a further three blocks (L6,
L8 and L9) held by Afrex and Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL. Woodside
now holds a 50% stake and is the operator, while Afrex has a 30% interest
and Pancontinental 20%.
Under
both transactions, Woodside's commitment is limited to the acquisition
of offshore 2D seismic. Seismic acquisition across all seven blocks is
currently under way and is expected to be completed by the end of this
year. Both joint ventures have the option of entering the second exploration
phases which would include exploration drilling in each of the blocks
renewed.
"The
addition of the seismic survey in these blocks to our current seismic
contract will provide economies of scale in operations and our technical
evaluation which will benefit both of the Woodside joint ventures and
Kenya", said Agu Kantsler, Woodside's Director of New Ventures.
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Santos
Expands Indonesian Exploration Acreage
Santos
has been awarded additional exploration acreage in the offshore East Java
Basin by the Indonesian authorities.
Santos
said the new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) area, North Bali-1, is
located east of Java and north of the island of Bali. The block covers
3,449 km2 in water depths ranging from 100 m to 970 m. Santos has a 100%
interest in the permit and is the operator.
The
East Java Basin is considered highly prospective for oil and several substantial
oil and gas fields have been discovered within the vicinity of the North
Bali-1 PSC area.
The
commitment work program for the PSC includes the acquisition of 2D seismic
data and the drilling of one exploration well within the next 12 months.
"The
award of the North Bali-1 block continues our strategy of building a portfolio
of high potential exploration opportunities and further consolidates our
position in the East Java Basin", said Santos Managing Director,
John Ellice Flint.
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Chinese
Eye Gorgon 'Take-away'
After
farming into Australia's biggest brownfield project, the North West Shelf,
Chinese oil giant, CNOOC, has already signalled it is looking to take
a slice of the Gorgon gasfield, which is shaping up to be one of Australia's
biggest greenfield projects.
CNOOC
has signed a letter of agreement with the participants in the Gorgon Joint
Venture to commence discussions regarding a potential upstream investment
in the Gorgon project. The Chinese oil giant has a 5.3% stake in the North
West Shelf gas project.
CNOOC
also agreed to explore marketing opportunities for natural gas from Gorgon
into China. This agreement builds on the Memorandum of Understanding entered
into between CNOOC and Chevron Australia in August 2001.
"LNG
will play an increasingly important role in meeting China's growing energy
demand. CNOOC has already developed a competitive advantage in China's
LNG and natural gas markets", said Wei Liucheng, Chairman and CEO
of CNOOC. "A potential partnership with Gorgon will further enhance
our substantial position in this market and it will create a win-win outcome
for China and Australia."
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Woodside
Spuds Mauritanian Well
In
early September, Woodside spudded the first well in its 2003 Mauritania
drilling program, which includes two firm wells plus one optional well.
The
drill ship Jack Ryan is drilling the combined appraisal and development
well, Chinguetti-4-5, in water depths of 820 m in Block 4. The location
is approximately 90 km west southwest of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott.
Planned total depth is 2,625 m.
Partners in the Area B PSC are Woodside (35% – operator), AGIP (35%),
Hardman Resources (21.6%), Fusion Oil and Gas NL (6%) and Roc Oil (2.4%).
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