Africa

1. Pioneer Natural Resources plans to drill at least six exploration wells in Tunisia but a recent probe targeting Triassic-aged sands on the Jorf block "did not encounter significant hydrocarbons and was abandoned.
"The second well for the year is currently drilling on the Anaguid block, and the company plans to spud another well on the block within 30 days. Both wells target the same Silurian-aged sands as were found in the company's Adam discovery," said Pioneer.
"Development of the Adam discovery is progressing with first production expected by early summer. Pioneer plans to begin drilling a well offsetting the Adam discovery in the Borj El Khadra [BEK] block in May and plans to spud another BEK exploration well during the third quarter."
The company also said the first of three exploration wells planned in South Africa this year is expected to spud imminently on a prospect that is on trend with the Boomslang discovery drilled in 2001.

2. Anadarko has made a new discovery on Block 404 on the Berkine Basin in Algeria.
The Sif Fatima South West (SFSW) discovery well is 10 miles (16 km) south of the discovery at Hassi Berkine North East (HBNE), 7 miles (11 km) east of the producing Hassi Berkine South East field and north-northeast of Sonatrach's discovery at Sif Fatima.
The well was drilled to a total depth of 10,637 ft (3,240 m) and encountered 36 ft (11 m) of net oil pay. It tested at a rate of 2,689 b/d of 47? API gravity oil and 4.7 MMcf/d of gas with a flowing tubing pressure of 1,414 psi.
Djamel Eddine Khene, vice president, exploration and production of Sonatrach, said, "This new discovery, which follows around 10 other discoveries made during the last 2 years in Algeria, confirms the success of the policy adopted by Sonatrach in partnering with foreign companies in its upstream activities."
"Exploration activities undertaken with foreign partner associations in Algeria will practically triple in 2003 compared with 2002, and this is set to increase even further over the next few years. As part of this program, several blocks, including offshore exploration blocks, will be put out to tender," he said.
"This is our second discovery since resuming our exploration program in October, and we are very encouraged by the results," said Rex Alman III, managing director of Anadarko Algeria.
"Anadarko has an excellent record of exploration success in Algeria. Over the past 10 years, we have found 14 fields with reserves totaling more than 2 billion bbl of oil. We have extensive experience in the Berkine Basin, and we intend to move quickly to bring these latest discoveries onto production using our existing infrastructure," Alman added.
In January, Anadarko announced a US $98 million capital spending program for 2003 in Algeria, which will focus primarily on exploration and development drilling. In addition to the exploration wells planned on Blocks 404 and 208 during the year, Anadarko expects to drill or participate in 41 development wells. Partners in Block 404 are Maersk and Eni.

3. Hardman Resources is looking to farm-out some of its acreage off Mauritania because of the high cost of its share of drilling up to eight deepwater wells there this year.
Hardman says that in the central Woodside-operated areas-PSCs A & B which include the Chinguetti and Banda discoveries-the consortia are planning to drill up to five wells, three exploration and two appraisal wells on the Banda discovery. "At this stage we've only committed to drill two wells and expect to confirm the other three wells after the locations have been finalized in May or June this year. We also have a possible well in Block 2 which needs to be confirmed in June," Hardman said.
It also appears that Dana Petroleum, which had to decided whether to stick onto the production-sharing contracts (PSCs) for Blocks 1, 7 and 8 by the end of June at the latest will be hanging on to at least one of them.
Hardman said: "In the Dana operated areas we've agreed to drill a well in Block 7 and may also commit to a well in Block 1. Therefore we could drill up to eight wells in 2003. We expect to award the drilling contract by May or June, then commence the drilling program in July or August and drill continuously for the rest of the year."
However the small Australian firm said that the costs could be higher than it is able to meet: "If we drill eight wells it will be a significant cost to Hardman. We're therefore planning to offer some of the interest in the exploration wells for farmout. For example, in Block 2 we have 28.8% interest and it would make sense to reduce this. We could also reduce in the central area (PSCs A & B) but we have an agreement with Woodside, our largest shareholder with 11.3%, not to reduce below 14.6% retained equity, which allows us to reduce by only 7%," it said.

4. Premier Oil has firmed up locations to drill two exploration wells off the West African state of Guinea Bissau in the third quarter of this year.
The UK independent has not yet fixed a rig but plans to spud the wells in September on Block 2 and Block 4a/5a. Premier Oil told African Oil & Gas that it will drill one well on the Sinapa (Fish) prospect in Block 2 and another on the Esperanca (Hope) prospect in Block 4a/5a.
The Sinapa probe will be drilled at water depth of 115 ft to 131 ft (35 m to 40 m), with Esperanca to be spudded in 197 ft (60 m) of water. Both wells are expected to take around 35 days to drill.
The Sinapa-1 well drilled in 2002 intersected salt at a depth of 3,610 ft (1,100 m) and remained in salt to total depth. It was sidetracked, but this too remained in salt to total depth without contacting the expected Albia reservoir. It was the country's first well for nearly a decade.
Only 10 wells previously have been drilled offshore the country with another four onshore. The last three offshore were drilled by Pecten back in the early 1990s, with one by Elf in the early 1980s and six by Esso in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Guinea Bissau currently has blocks 1, 3, 6A, 7A, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 5C, 6C and 7C up for grabs. The new ultradeepwater C blocks were added late in the day to "accommodate the newly revealed deepwater deltaic complex to the west of the B blocks," according to national oil company PetroGuin.
Rumors suggest a few well-known oil companies currently are negotiating on the deeper blocks and that awards could be made early next year.

5. Canadian Natural Resources spudded a deepwater wildcat offshore Côte d'Ivoire while finalizing its plans for a floating production development in the same sector.
CNR International, a subsidiary of Canadian Natural Resources, spudded the Acajou-1x well. The probe is being drilled in CNR-operated Block CI-26, in a water depth of approximately 3,000 ft (914 m). The prospect lies only 2 miles (4 km) southeast of CNR's producing Espoir field development and, if successful, would be an obvious subsea tieback candidate.
CNR is using the Transocean-operated rig Sovereign Explorer to drill Acajou-1x.
The SovEx was the rig used to drill the deepwater Baobab-1x discovery on CNR's Block CI-40 offshore Côte d'Ivoire in January 2001.
The company says it is now finalizing its plans for the 200 million-bbl Baobab discovery, with anticipated first oil in 2005 at a planed initial production rate of 45,000 b/d, increasing with full field development to 60,000 b/d. The onstream date is several months later than the operator originally envisaged.

6. Preliminary results from Heritage Oil's Turaco-1 exploration well in Uganda's Block 3 indicate the well is a discovery, making the probe the first strike ever in the East African country.
Turaco-1 was drilled to a total depth of 8,160 ft (2,487 m) and encountered "good shows of both methane and higher order gases [C1 and C4] and also shows of live oil", said Heritage.
Gas was encountered over an interval spanning more than 1,641 ft (500 m) and was confirmed by logs. Near the bottom section of the well, higher order gases (C2 to C4) and live oil shows were encountered, but mechanical difficulties were experienced during the coring of this section, which the company was therefore unable to log.
Heritage said that results of the well have proven the hydrocarbon potential of the basin and demonstrate the presence of a mature oil source, reservoir and seal. The company added that seismic mapping on the onshore part of Block 3 "shows a number of additional substantial prospects with potential oil resources measuring several billions of bbl."
Buoyed by the Turaco-1, Heritage and partner Energy Africa have decided to fast track the drilling of Turaco-2, with a spud date expected in July or August this year.
Heritage also said it plans a 2-D seismic acquisition campaign on Lake Albert this month over about 279 miles (450 km) in Block 3. This will be part of a larger shoot acquired by Hardman Resources in Block 2 in the northern part of the lake.
Heritage operates Block 3 with a 50% working interest, while Energy Africa Uganda holds the remaining 50%.

7. BP is well on track with its third ultradeepwater exploration well in Block 31 offshore Angola.
The UK major told African Oil & Gas that the Saturno-1 wildcat is being drilled at a water depth of 5,906 ft (1,800 m) and lies 88 miles (140 km) offshore the West African country's shores and around 18 miles (30 km) west of ExxonMobil's Kizomba A project in Block 15.
The probe is expected to take around 2 months to complete.
The first well on Block 31, Jupiter-1, was a duster, while the second probe called Plutao-1, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the first, was tested and flowed at a rate of 5,350 b/d of oil at a water depth of 6,628 ft (2,020 m).

8. French major TotalFinaElf has confirmed two new deepwater oil discoveries in its golden Block 17 off Angola, as predicted. The company says it made its fourteenth and fifteenth finds in the block, with its Acacia-1 and Hortensia-1 probes. Acacia was drilled in a water depth of 3,379 ft (1,030 m) and tested at a combined 13,712 b/d of oil from two separate zones. Hortensia was spudded 6 miles (10 km) north of Acacia in a water depth of 2,723 ft (830 m) and tested at 5,092 b/d of oil.
Both are located in the eastern section of Block 17 near the Perpetua discovery, made in 2000. The latest confirmed finds increase the likelihood of a standalone development of them jointly with Perpetua and Zinia, discovered in December 2002.
The previous finds in the block are: Girassol, Dalia, Rosa, Lirio, Tulipa, Orquidea, Cravo, Camelia, Jasmim, Perpetua, Violeta, Anturio and Zinia. Girassol is currently producing at 200,000 b/d of oil.