Some highlights from international activity in 2014:
January
Petroamerica Oil Corp. reported two discoveries in Colombia. The La Casona-2 well found light oil in the Mirador formation, testing at 545 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 3.6 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd). Rumi-1 struck heavy oil in the Une Formation, testing about 1,000 bopd natural flow.
Tullow Oil continued its success onshore north Kenya, where its Amosing-1 well encountered net oil pay of 160-200 meters in Block 10BB. Also, its Ewoi-1 well found 20-80 meters of pay, helping to derisk a basin flank play.
Pacific Rubiales Energy claimed an oil discovery in Block 131 of Peru’s onshore Ucayali Basin, where the Los Angeles-1X well hit pay in the Cretaceous Cushabatay formation.
Flow rates from three test intervals were 135 bopd, 936 bopd and 2,351 bopd.
February
In the Sichuan Basin, China National Petroleum Corp.’s Gaoshi-1 and Moxi-8 wells produced an average of 600,000 cubic meters of gas per day.
CNPC raised its technically recoverable reserve estimates for the Anyue field Moxi block to 308.2 billion cubic meters. It said the Cambrian system Longwangmiao formation was the largest uncompartmentalized carbonate gas reservoir discovered in China to date.
Eni S.p.A. said its Nene Marine 3 well discovered light oil and wet gas in the Marine XII block offshore Congo, in a presalt clastic sequence at about 3,000 meters. Nene Marine 3 flowed more than 5,000 bopd in production tests, and ENI estimated the Nene Marine field contains 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas in place.
Total announced its 25/5-9 wildcat east of the Heimdel field in the central North Sea intersected a 69-foot oil column, and put the discovery size between 3.1 million-6.3 million barrels. The well targeted hydrocarbons in the Paleocene Heimdel formation.
Statoil’s 7220/4-1 in the Barents Sea found a 130-meter gas column but poorer than expected reservoir quality in the Sto and Nordmela formations, and a 45-meter gas column in the Snadd formation.
The wildcat went to 2,806 meters vertical depth in 403 meters of water.
March
Jura Energy Corp. reported a gas discovery with the Maru East-1 exploration well on the Guddu block in Pakistan’s Central Indus Basin. Short-duration flow on choke was 3 mmcfd.
The well was completed in the Eocene Pirkoh Limestone formation.
Statoil said its Zafarani-2 well flowed at a maximum rate of 66 mmcfd in a drillstem test. The well is in 7,875 feet of water about 50 miles off the coast of southern Tanzania. Statoil has a 65 percent working interest; ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Ltd. hold the remainder.
Petrobras discovered a 188-meter column of intermediate oil in the Potiguar Basin with the 1-BRSA-1205-RNS (1-RNS-158) wildcat, also known as Pitu. The well is 55 kilometers offshore Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte in 1,731 meters of water. Total depth was 5,353 meters.
China National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC) made a gas discovery with its Lingshui 17-2-1 well in the east Lingshui Sag of the deepwater South China Sea’s Qiongdongnan Basin. The well was completed at 3,510 meters and encountered 55 meters of total reservoir thickness.
Beach Energy found Jurassic oil with its Stunsail-1 wildcat in the western flank Cooper-Eromanga Basin play in South Australia. The well found oil in two zones within the McKinlay-Namur section plus Mid-Namur and Birkhead reservoir potential. Beach operated with a 40 percent interest; Drillsearch Energy holds 60 percent.
CNOOC made a gas discovery in the Bozhong 22-1 structure in the south-central region of Bohai Bay. The discovery well encountered 92 meters of gas pay and was completed at 4,611 meters depth.
April
GeoPark Ltd. tested the Aruco 1 exploration well in Colombia at 1,154 bopd of heavy oil. The well was the company’s sixth discovery on Llanos Block 34 in the central Llanos Basin.
In the Valemon North prospect in the North Sea, Statoil’s 34/10-54 S well proved a 164 meter gross gas condensate and oil column. The well and a sidetrack found pay in the Brent Group, the Statfjord Group, the Cook formation and other Jurassic rock. Estimated volumes were 20 million-75 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Cobalt International Energy chalked up more success offshore Angola. Its Orca-1 presalt well in Block 20/11 of the Kwanza Basin produced over 3,700 bopd and 16.3 mmcfd. Cobalt estimated well reserves at 400 million-700 million barrels of oil. It holds a 40 percent interest; Sonangol and BP have 30 percent each.
Leni Gas and Oil announced total pay intervals of about 193 feet in the upper Gourdon sands in its GY-664 development well onshore Trinidad. Drilling continued through the Gourdon to the Gros Morne and Lower Cruse.
Helium! Santos air-drilled a wildcat to 2,295 meters in the Amadeus Basin of central Australia. The Mt. Kitty-1 flowed gas from four zones in the target Heavitree formation. Preliminary analysis indicated a helium content of about 5.8 percent of flow.
Shell’s Rosmari-1 well penetrated a 450-meter gas column on Malaysia Block SK318, offshore Sarawak. The well was drilled to total depth of 2,123 meters, about 135 kilometers offshore.
Shell has an 85 percent interest and operates Block SK318; Petronas Carigali holds 15 percent.
Total E&P made an oil strike on Block CI-514 offshore Ivory Coast with the Saphir-1XB exploratory well, which encountered 40 meters of net pay. The well went to 4,655 meters in 2,300 meters of water. Total said it will focus extension to the north and east.
Premier Oil’s Kuda Laut-1 well found 183 net feet of oil reservoir and 327 feet of gas reservoir in the Tuna production-sharing contract area offshore Indonesia. Premier is operator with 65 percent interest.
Following up on its Cardona discovery, Stone Energy Corp. found more than 275 feet of net oil pay in three separate sections of the deepwater Cardona South well on Mississippi Canyon Block 29 in the Gulf of Mexico.
May
KazMunaiGas Exploration Production Joint Stock Co. reported an oil and gas discovery in Carboniferous Bashkirian tier sediments in Rozhkovskoye field, Kazakhstan. Its U-24 well had maximum flow of 1,900 bopd of light crude oil and 6 mmcfd of gas.
Petrobras confirmed more quality oil in the Santos Basin presalt, Brazil, with its 4-BRSA1226-RJS. The well, known as Entorno de Iara 3, found oil in carbonate layers below salt starting at 5,549 meters. It was the third drilled on the Entorno de Iara block and the company’s last exploration well in the Transfer of Rights (TOR) area.
June
Statoil and ExxonMobil made their sixth discovery in the Piri prospect on Block 2 offshore Tanzania. Piri-1 found gas in Lower Cretaceous sands in 2,360 meters of water. Statoil said Piri-1 added 2-3 Tcf of gas in place, bringing the block’s total in-place resource to 20 Tcf.
A BG Group joint venture including Pancontinental Petroleum made an oil discovery in the Lamu Basin off Africa’s east coast. The Sunbird-1 well in Kenyan permit L10A hit a 14 meter gross oil column and a 29.6 meter gross gas column in a buried reef reservoir.
Mubadala Petroleum said the Pagaga-2 appraisal well confirmed an 850-meter gas column in Block SK320 offshore Malaysia. The well was drilled to 2,685 meters total depth. Mabadala said the main gas-bearing zones produced 30-50 mmcfd. It also confirmed that the Sirih-1 discovery found a 293-meter gas column.
Repsol claimed two discoveries in a relatively unexplored area of western Siberia in the Karabashsky 1 and 2 blocks in the Ouriyinskoye field. The strikes could add 240 million boe to recoverable resources, said a Russian ministry.
July
Woodside Petroleum penetrated about 150 meters of gross gas pay in permit WA-430-P in Western Australia’s Exmouth sub-basin. The Toro-1 exploration well reached total depth of 3,724 meters and found gas in the target Mungaroo formation.
OMV (Norge) estimated 20-50 million boe in its 7324/7-2 Hanssen discovery in the Barents Sea offshore Norway. It was drilled to 1,679 meters in PL537 and targeted the Middle Jurassic to Late Triassic Sto, Nordmela and Fruholmen formations, with secondary objectives in Late to Middle Triassic rocks.
Repsol found more oil on TSP block offshore Trinidad and Tobago with the TB14 well, which tested at 1,200 bopd. It estimated 40 million barrels of oil in place for the well, in the north of Teak B field.
VNG Norge’s Bue side-track well 6404/12-3A found up to 25 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent near its Pil discovery well in the Norwegian Sea, partner Faroe Petroleum said. Targeting Middle and Upper Jurassic reservoirs, the well found a 59-foot hydrocarbon column
Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd. found oil in both the Eight Mile formation and Cobden lime on its Petroleum Creek project in New Zealand. Petrophysical analysis confirmed the Crestal-1 as a discovery, the company said.
The Pharos-1 wildcat hit a 53-meter gross gas interval with 34 meters of net pay in the Browse Basin, in permit WA-398-P offshore Western Australia. A ConocoPhillips-Karoon Gas Australia partnership made the discovery.
Shell listed another Jurassic Norphlet oil play find in eastern Gulf of Mexico deep waters. The Rydberg exploration well went to 26,371 feet and found more than 400 feet of net oil pay in Mississippi Canyon block 525. Shell now counts over 700 million barrels of oil equivalent in the play. Ecopetrol America and CNOOC-Nexen also hold interests.
OMV found oil with the shallow-water Istria XVIII in the Black Sea off Romania. The company said production potential was 1,500-2,000 boe/day.
Leni Gas & Oil’s fourth development well in the Goudron field onshore Trinidad cut 187 feet of net oil pay in the Goudron sands. Further drilling was aimed at a Gros Morne sands oil target and Lower Cruse potential.
In more Barents Sea work, Lundin Petroleum announced its Gohta appraisal well 7120/1-4s found 10 meters of Upper Permian limestone conglomerate with good reservoir properties. The well in PL492 offshore Norway targeted the Gohta karst Roye formation and overlying Kobbe formation sandstones.
Eni said it made a “significant” gas and condensate discovery offshore Gabon on block D4 in the Nyonie Deep exploration prospect. Preliminary resource estimate for the NFW Nyonie Deep 1 presalt find was 500 million barrels of oil equivalent.
August
Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. made its third discovery on the Gambat South Block (2568-18) with the Sharf X-1 in district Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan. Initial testing flowed 42 million standard cubic feet of gas per day and 199 barrels/day of condensate
Roxi Petroleum plc got oil and gas shows below 14,200 feet with Well A5, the first deep well on the BNG Contract Area in the South Emba sub-basin, Kazakhstan. Drilling targets mainly middle Carboniferous chances.
A recovered core of dolomitic limestone was “porous, fissured and filled with oil,” the company said.
Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd. got condensate and gas from its Pasakh Deep Well No.4 in the Hyderabad district of Sindh Province, Pakistan. The well went to 11,350 feet, targeting potential of sands in Lower Goru Formation. Test flow was 14 mmcfd with 125 barells/day of condensate.
Shell’s deepwater Marjoram-1 well discovered gas on Block SK318 offshore Malaysia, in 800 meters of water about 180 kilometers offshore. Shell holds 85 percent, and Petronas Carigali the remainder.
CNOOC reported gas flows in the deepwater Lingshui 17-2 well in the northern part of the South China Sea. The well tested at 56.5 mmcfd, but lack of existing infrastructure raised questions about development.
September
Kuwait Energy discovered oil with its Faihaa-1 well in the Mishrif formation at 8,858 feet, in Block 9 in northern Basra, Iraq. Preliminary flow rate was about 2,000 bopd of 20 degree API oil. Dragon Oil has a 30 percent interest.
Beach Energy Ltd. said the Martlet-1 exploration well intersected 19.6 feet of net oil pay at a measured depth of 4,770 feet on the western flank of the Cooper Basin in South Australia. Senex Ltd. has a 60 percent interest and is operator for the Namur sands discovery.
Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. reached hydrocarbons with its Soghri-01 exploration well in District Attock, Punjab, Pakistan. Multiple horizons jointly tested at 17 mmcfd and 220 barrels per day of condensate. The well tested potential of the Sakassar, Chorgali, Nammal and Pattala formations.
Ophir Energy made a gas find with the Silenus East-1 in Block R offshore Equatorial Guinea. It said the well contains around 405 Bcf of mean recoverable gas, with the entire Block R having recoverables of 3.4 Tcf.
Cairn India Ltd. chalked up three more oil discoveries in western Rajasthan state, India. The company plans to spend $3 billion over three years to boost oil and gas output from the Rajasthan block, which has produced over 240 million barrels of hydrocarbons since 2009.
More oil offshore Angola, where Eni reported a deepwater oil discovery at the Ochigufu exploration prospect. The Ochigufu 1 NFW well was drilled to 14,666 feet in a water depth of 4,380 feet, about 90 miles offshore, encountering 154 feet of net oil pay. Eni said data indicate production capacity over 5,000 bopd.
Eni announced an oil discovery in Ecuador, 260 kilometers southeast of Quito, with the Oglan-2 in Block 10. It estimated 300 million barrels of crude in place, and projected per-well production capacity up to 2,000 bopd in the play.
The Parkmead Group discovered a 157-foot gas column at the Diever-2 well onshore in northern Netherlands. The well reached 7,457 feet and found gas was in a Rotliegendes age sandstone reservoir.
Petrobras announced an ultra-deepwater gas find in Poco Verde concession BM-SEAL-4 in Brazil’s Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The well, informally known as Poco Verde 1, is in water depth of 7,204 feet. ONGC-India has a 25 percent stake.
Real Energy Corporation Ltd. discovered gas with its Tamarama-1 exploration well in Queensland Cooper Basin ATP 927P, Australia. Evaluation indicated 69 feet of net sandstone gas pay in the Toolachee formation and 216 feet in the Patchawarra formation.
Rosneft made an Arctic discovery with ExxonMobil in the East-Prinovozemelskiy-1 license area in the Kara Sea, proving oil in Jurassic sediments and gas in Ceonmanian/Apt-Alb chalk deposits. Estimated recoverable reserves were 130 million tons of oil and 499 billion cubic meters of gas.
Statoil declared noncommercial its Pingvin prospect gas find in the Arctic, despite production potential between five billion-20 billion standard cubic meters. The 7319/12-1 discovery is in PL713 in the Barents Sea.
A Roc Oil subsidiary said its WZ12-10-1 well discovered oil in the Jiaowei (T42) formation on the Beibu Gulf Block 22/12 offshore China. The well found 13.7 feet of high porosity oil pay at the top of the Jiaowei, with confirmation by a sidetrack.
PT Medco Energi Internasional reported success on the South Sumatera Block, Indonesia and in Area 47, Libya. In Indonesia it found a 114-foot gas column in the Baturaja lime with its Hijau-2 well. Drillstem testing confirmed a flowrate of 5.05 mmcfd. The company’s O2 well in Libya flowed 3,300 bopd and 140,000 standard cubic feet of gas per day.
October
Ophir Energy plc said the offshore Kamba-1 discovery in Block 4, Tanzania, found 1.03 Tcf of gas in the Cretaceous Kamba and Paleocene Fulusi prospects. BG operates the Block 4 license; Ophir has a 20 percent interest.
Petrobras made a natural gas find with the Tanganika well, also known as 3-ESS-222, in Brazil’s post-salt Espirito Santo Basin 72 kilometers offshore. The Malombe discovery evaluation well was drilled in 1,043 meters of water to total depth of 2,996 meters.
Statoil’s 7220/2-1 discovered gas in license 714 in the Barents Sea. The well encountered a gas column of about 85 meters in the Sto and Nordmella formations. Initial recoverable gas estimate was one billion-two billion standard cubic meters.
Lundin Norway found oil and gas with an Alta exploratory well in the southern Barents Sea. The 7220/11-1 hit a gross hydrocarbon column of 57 meters, with 11 meters gas and 46 meters oil in carbonate rocks. Maximum test production rate was 3,260 bopd and 1.7 mmcfd.
Statoil added 1.2 Tcf gas in place with its Giligiliani-1 well on Block 2 offshore Tanzania, its seventh area discovery. The find came in Upper Cretaceous sands in 2,500 meters of water. ExxonMobil E&P Tanzania Ltd. holds a 35 percent interest.
Dubai Petroleum Establishment’s T-02 deep well found mostly natural gas in the Pre Khuff formation of the Fateh field offshore Dubai. At 18,248 feet, T-02 was the deepest well in Dubai to date, representatives of the company said. Logs showed approximately 390 feet of gas zones.
On the Khalakan block in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Gas Plus Khalakan Ltd. made a commercial light oil discovery with the Shewashan-1. The well produced from reservoir zones in the Cretaceous Shiranish, Kometan and Qamchuga formations.
Statoil’s 25/8-18 S went to 1,863 meters measured depth and proved a 25-meter oil column in the D-structure of the Heimdal formation, north of the North Sea Grane field. The well terminated in the Upper Cretaceous Shetland Group. Statoil estimated the discovery at 30 million-80 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Shell intersected 200 meters of net gas pay with its Leopard-1 well in a presalt reservoir offshore Gabon. The well was drilled to 5,063 meters vertical depth in 2,110 meters of water. CNOOC is a 25 percent partner.
Chevron counted another Gulf of Mexico Lower Tertiary discovery when its Guadalupe No. 1 made a Wilcox Sands oil find in Keathley Canyon Block 10. The well was drilled to a total depth of 30,173 feet in about 4,000 feet of water, 180 miles offshore Louisiana.
A North Sea discovery spanned GDF Suez-operated Block 30/1f in license P1588 and BP-operated Block 30/1c in license P363. The find flow-tested at a maximum 5,350 boe per day. The prospect is referred to as Marconi by GDF Suez and Vorlich by BP.
Tullow Oil PLC said its Ekosowan-1 exploratory well in the South Lokichar Basin in Kenya found a 900-meter section of near-continuous oil shows through an interval of tight-faulted sands. But its Kodos-1 wildcat in Block 10BB in the Keiro basin hit alluvial reservoir sands of “mixed quality,” Tullow representatives reported.
Petrobras found deepwater gas and condensates in its 4-BRSA-1265-ESS well in the Espirito Santo Basin, Brazil. The well, known informally as Lontra, is 81 kilometers offshore in the Golfinho concession area. Reservoirs were identified at 3,055 meters well depth.
CNOOC reported a mid-to-large oil and gas discovery with its Jinzhou 23-2 well in the Bohai Sea. The structure lies in the northern part of Liaodong Uplift in 10 meters of water. The well reached 1,097 meters and found oil and gas pay zones with a total thickness of 68.4 meters. On test, oil production reached 260 bopd.
Eni saw success on the East Sepinggan Block offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia, where its Merakes 1 well discovered 60 feet of pay in high-quality sands. The Lower Pliocene clastic sequence holds 1.3 Tcf gas in place, it said.
Repsol’s Leon well hit 150 meters of net oil pay within a 400-meter column on Keathley Canyon Block 642 in the Gulf of Mexico, about 219 miles offshore Louisiana. The well TDed at 9,684 meters. Ecopetrol is a 40 percent partner.
Eni hit a major find with a hydrocarbon column of 420 meters in a Lower Cretaceous presalt sequence on the Marine XII block offshore Congo. The Minsala Marine 1 well went to 3,700 meters in 75 meters of water. Eni estimated total potential of 1 billion boe in place.
November
Partners Cairn Energy, ConocoPhillips and FAR Ltd. said their SNE-1 wildcat brought in a second light oil discovery offshore Senegal. The Sangomar block well was drilled in 1,100 meters of water about 100 kilometers offshore. It struck a 95-meter gross oil-bearing column with net pay thickness of 36 meters in an Albian sandstone reservoir.
Norske Shell intersected a 28-meter gas column with its 6305/8-2 appraisal well in Ormen Lange field in the southern Norwegian Sea. The well was drilled to 3,038 meters, reaching the Upper Cretaceous Kyrre formation.
CNOOC’s Lufeng14-4-1 exploration well in the eastern South China Sea interested about 492 feet of oil pay and tested at around 1,320 bopd. The well is in the Lufeng Sag in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, in average water depth of 475 feet.
Talisman Energy and Ecopetrol made a heavy oil discovery on Block CPO-9 in Meta, Colombia. The Nueva Esperanza-1 stabilized at a flow of 910 bopd in an initial eight-day flow test after 309 feet of perforations in the T2 formation.
A Tag Oil step-out in New Zealand’s onshore Taranaki Basin hit more than nine meters of net oil and gas-bearing sands in the Mt. Messenger formation. The Cheal-E-JV-6 was drilled to total depth of 1,939 meters.
A Marathon Oil subsidiary drillstem tested 6,100 bopd of light oil with a combined 10-15 mmcfd from non-associated gas zones on the Harir block in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The Jisik-1 reached 15,000 feet and found stacked zones of Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs. Total holds a 35 percent working interest and the Kurdistan regional government a 20 percent carried interest.
Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. got oil from five separate zones with its Kangaroo-2 appraisal well in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. The well tapped a 250 meter gross oil column and 135 meters of net reservoir pay in Palaeocene and Maastrichtian sections.
December
OMV produced first oil from its Maari redevelopment drilling campaign in New Zealand. Output from the MR-8A well was estimated at 4,500 barrels of oil per day gross. OMV will invest about 205 million euros in drilling five wells.
Petrobras said it made the first natural gas strike in Colombian Caribbean deepwater with its Orca-1 well in the Tayrona Block, about 30 miles offshore La Guajira. Total depth was 13,910 feet with the gas accumulation above 11,800 feet. Petrobras holds a 40 percent interest; Ecopetrol and Repsol have 30 percent each.
President Energy PLC discovered oil with the PY-PE-Lx-1, or Lapacho well, in Paraguay. The company said it discovered two conventional oil pay zones in the Devonian Icla formation at a depth of 3,926 meters. Petro-Victory is a 36 percent partner.
InterOil Corp. has confirmed the presence of a “multi-hundred-meter hydrocarbon column” in excess of the 200-meter gross gas interval previously encountered by the Raptor-1 well, 12 kilometers west of the Antelope field in Papua New Guinea.
Centrica Resources Norge made a gas discovery with its 6707/10-3 S wildcat in the Norwegian North Sea. Centrica said the well, about 20 kilometers northeast of the Aasta Hansteen field, was the first exploration well in production license 528 B. It found a gas column of about 12 meters in the Upper Cretaceous Kvitnos formation.
Bengal Energy’s Nubba-1 well found light oil shows in five different Jurassic reservoirs in Permit ATP752P in the Cooper Basin, Australia. It also intersected up to 20 feet of gas pay in the Permian Toolachee formation.
Origin Energy Ltd. said its Speculant-1 wildcat found a 145-meter gas column in the Waare C formation in the offshore Otway Basin of western Victoria, Australia. Drilling targeted a tilted fault block structure of about seven square kilometers.
Santos and 40 percent venture partner Drillsearch Energy discovered wet gas with the Yarowinnie South-1 well in the Cooper Basin, Australia. Drillsearch estimated almost 49 feet of net gas pay over several intervals in the Patchawarra formation. It was the second wet gas discovery for the PEL 513 joint venture.