Husky Energy has drilled two successful delineation wells at White Rose Field in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, offshore Newfoundland. The White Rose F-04 and F-04Z were drilled at the southern end of White Rose on a separate geological structure. The F-04 encountered approximately 180 meters of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone in the Avalon Formation. The company sidetracked the well, drilling the F-04Z to a bottomhole location 1,100 meters to the east. That wellbore encountered the same oil/water contact as in the F-04. Husky says that the new pool contains 200- to 250 billion cubic feet of gas and 60- to 90 million barrels of oil in place, and could add up to 30 million barrels of oil to White Rose's recoverable reserves. The original field, discovered in 1984 in 120 meters of water, is estimated to contain some 225 million barrels of recoverable oil. Production from White Rose is expected to commence in late 2005 or early 2006, and to peak at a rate of 92,000 barrels per day. Husky has already completed three glory holes for the subsea wellheads, which are in 115 to 130 meters of water. Development plans call for 19 to 20 producing wells, a number of which will be horizontal, along with several injection wells. The crude will be produced into a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. Husky operates the field and owns a 72.5% interest, and Petro-Canada has the remaining 27.5%. -Peggy Williams 1 Canada Offshore Nova Scotia, EnCana Corp. spudded the MarCoh D-41 well near its Deep Panuke Field. The shallow-water test is the company's second in the immediate area this year; it recently drilled its Margaree F-70 well on adjacent Exploration License 2378 to a total depth of 3,700 meters. That well is being tested, but the operator has not released any information. The company also plans to drill a deepwater test on its Weymouth prospect in EL 2380. 2 Canada Talisman Energy Inc. says that through September, it drilled 25 successful Cretaceous producers at Bigstone/Wild River in its Edson core producing area in Alberta. By year-end, it will have completed another dozen operated wells and participated in several nonoperated wells there. Initial production rates in the wells, in 57-23-W4 and 57-24-W5, have ranged from up to 6.3 million cu. ft. of gas per day. The company reports that it is currently producing some 85 million cu. ft. of gas per day from Bigstone/Wild River. At Whitecourt, also in the Edson area, Talisman has drilled 13 wells this year with an 85% success rate. It expects to complete 14 additional wells by year-end. Talisman's current production from Whitecourt is 50 million cu. ft. per day. 3 Mexico Repsol YPF has won the tender on the first of Pemex's multiple service contract blocks in the Burgos Basin. During the next three years, the company will invest $172 million in the 3,552-sq.-kilometer Reynosa-Monterrey block, shooting 700 sq. kilometers of 3-D seismic and drilling eight exploration wells. During the 20-year term of the agreement, it anticipates an investment of $2.44 billion. Repsol was the sole bidder on the block, which is the largest of the seven MSC blocks that Pemex is offering. 4 U.K. Marathon Oil Corp. has started producing gas and condensate from single-well Braemar Field in the central North Sea at the gross daily rate of approximately 50 million cu. ft. of gas and 4,500 bbl. of condensate. Braemar is a satellite to Brae Field and was discovered in 1985 on Block 16/3c in 125 meters of water. Marathon operates Braemar and holds a 26% interest in the development; BP, 52%; Talisman Energy, 10%; Kerr-McGee, 5%; Nippon Oil, 4%; and Lundin Petroleum, 3%. 5 U.K. Oil production has commenced at the Blake Flank development on Block 13/24 in the Central North Sea, says operator BG Group. Current production is 5,200 bbl. of oil per day, and a second well is planned that will come onstream early next year. The development adds an estimated 20 million bbl. of reserves to Blake Field, which is owned by BG, Talisman Energy and Paladin Resources. 6 Norway Norsk Hydro has made a discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea at its Klegg well (25/4-9S) in production license 036. The well was drilled in 394 ft. of water about seven miles north of Heimdal Field to a total depth of 7,440 ft. It encountered a 213-ft. gross oil column. Norsk Hydro operates and holds a 28.5% interest in the Klegg find; Marathon, 46.9%; Total, 24.2%; and Ugland, 0.3%. 7 France Lundin Petroleum has been active in the Paris Basin, reviving production in an inactive field and spudding an exploration well. At Les Merisiers Field in the Courgivaux concession, a development well is now producing 250 bbl. of oil per day. Lundin has a 100% working interest in the field, which had previously been shut in. Based on this success, the company is evaluating additional development at Les Merisiers. Meanwhile, Lundin is testing its Censa-Ormat-1 exploration well in the Val des Marais exploration permit. It says that a potential oil-producing zone has been identified in the Dogger interval. 8 Morocco Exploration rights in three areas offshore northwestern Morocco have been awarded to Repsol YPF. The company's new concessions cover 6,000 square kilometers off the coast between Tangiers and Larache. The licenses carry eight-year terms. 9 Nigeria ChevronTexaco has made an oil discovery on deepwater Oil Producing License 249. The Nsiko-1 was drilled to a total depth of 13,968 ft. in 5,674 ft. of water. It encountered hydrocarbon pay in multiple zones, and one zone was tested at the rate of 6,500 bbl. of oil per day. On the same license, an appraisal well to the Aparo discovery was also successful. The Aparo-3, drilled in 4,270 ft. of water to a total depth of 12,000 ft., encountered a "substantial amount" of oil pay. The results indicate that the appraisal was drilled on the same structure that contains the initial Aparo find on OPL 213 and the Bonga SW discovery on Oil Mining License 118, says ChevronTexaco. The company owns a 100% contractor interest in OPL 249 and 213. In separate activity, ChevronTexaco also participated in a significant extension of Usan Field on OPL 222. The Usan-4 appraisal, drilled in 2,460 ft. of water, flowed at restricted rates of 4,400 and 6,300 bbl. per day during tests. Usan, discovered in 2002, is estimated to contain some 300 million bbl. of recoverable oil. Total operates OPL 222; its other partners, in addition to ChevronTexaco, are ExxonMobil Corp. and Nexen Inc. The concessionaire on all of the licenses is Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. 10 Kazakhstan Total is taking a stake in Kurmangazy Field, on the boundary of the Russian and Kazakh sectors of the Caspian Sea. The company is negotiating its interest with KazMunayTeniz, the state oil and gas firm, which owns 50% of the Kurmangazy production-sharing agreement. Russian firms Rosneft and Zarubezhneft own the other half-interest. 11 China Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Energy says that its subsidiary Sunwing Energy is preparing to spud the first development well at 22,400-acre Dagang Field, an onshore accumulation 125 miles southeast of Beijing. The well will be the first in a development program that calls for up to 115 oil wells and 28 recompletions over the next several years. Sunwing hopes to ramp up production levels to a peak rate of 14,000 bbl. per day by the end of 2006. Sunwing initiated a pilot program at Dagang in 1999, and currently produces approximately 500 bbl. of oil per day from seven wells. 12 China In the South China Sea, Devon Energy Corp. has begun producing oil at Panyu Field. Gross production is expected to reach 60,000 bbl. of oil per day in the third quarter of 2004. Panyu is in about 320 ft. of water in the Pearl River Mouth Basin. Devon operates the field and owns a 24.5% working interest, CNOOC Ltd. has a 51% interest and Burlington Resources Inc. has the remaining 24.5%. 13 China A consortium comprised of Shell, Unocal, CNOOC Ltd. and Sinopec is proceeding with the giant Xihu Trough gas project in the East China Sea. The agreement covers 22,000 sq. kilometers divided into three exploration and two development contracts. Initially, the group will develop Chunxiao Field, the largest find in the basin. Proven reserves are estimated in the range of 1.8 trillion cu. ft.; first production is slated for mid-2005. CNOOC will operate the project and hold a 30% interest; Sinopec, 30%; and Shell and Unocal, each 20%. The latter two will fund 100% of the work on the exploration blocks. 14 Australia A test operated by BHP Petroleum in the Exmouth sub-basin offshore Western Australia has encountered a 112-ft. oil column. The Crosby-1 was drilled in 646 ft. of water to a measured depth of 4,022 ft. The well, which is just east of the recent Ravensworth oil discovery, is productive in the Pyrenees member of the Cretaceous Barrow Group. BHP operates the well and holds a 71.43% interest; Houston-based Apache Corp. holds the remaining 28.57%.

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