Apache Canada, Murphy Oil and Northstar Energy are currently drilling exploratory wells in the Ladyfern area of northeastern British Columbia. The wells are chasing the Ladyfern Devonian Slave Point reefal gas play farther afield, reports Calgary consulting firm Canadian Discovery Ltd. If successful, the Apache Drake a-44-E/94-H-11 and Murphy Northstar Osprey c-18-B/94-H-2 wells would be major extensions of the huge Ladyfern discovery. The wells are projected to total depths of approximately 9,800 and 10,500 feet, respectively. Ladyfern, discovered in 2000, has proven reserves estimated at more than 300 billion cubic feet of gas and possible recoverable reserves as high as 1 trillion cubic feet. Seven of the recent discoveries have been placed onstream; in June 2001, total daily production was about 225 million cubic feet per day. Individual wells are flowing at rates as high as 70 million cubic feet per day. In related news, San Antonio-based Abraxas Petroleum reports that Grey Wolf, its wholly owned Canadian subsidiary, is participating in a six-well program in Ladyfern. The company owns an average 32% working interest in more than 32,000 acres in the area; its working interests in the six wells will range from 16.7% to 37.5%. It is partnering with Northstar, the Canadian affiliate of Devon Energy. -Peggy Williams 1 Canada EOG Resources is the operator of a consortium exploration well currently drilling in the Central Mackenzie Valley near Norman Wells, Northwest Territories. The well, EOG et al. Devo Creek P-45, is licensed down to 8,233 ft., reports Canadian Discovery Ltd. The multiobjective well is primarily targeting Devonian Kee Scarp reefal carbonates and carbonates of the Devonian Hume and Arnica formations. There are possible secondary objectives in the shallower Cretaceous Little Bear clastics and deeper Cambrian Mount Clarke clastics. This well appears to be the lone exploration well in the Norman Wells area this drilling season, and a discovery would provide a major impetus to further exploratory drilling in the area. Farther north, Devon Energy plans to drill an exploratory well onshore Mackenzie Delta. The Devon Petro-Canada Tuk M-18 well is licensed to drill down to 9,978 feet and is expected to spud early this year. 2 Canada The Mackenzie Delta Producers Group-composed of Imperial Oil, Conoco, Shell and ExxonMobil-and the Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Pipeline Corp. plan to apply for regulatory permission to build an 800-mile pipeline from the Delta (in the far northern reaches of the Northwest Territories) to existing infrastructure in northern Alberta. The proposed line would move gas from Taglu, Parsons Lake and Niglintgak fields, and also transport gas from other discoveries in the Mackenzie Delta and Valley regions. Imperial discovered Taglu, the largest single field in the Mackenzie Delta, in 1971. It contains recoverable reserves of 3 trillion cu. ft. (Tcf) of gas. Parson's Lake Field, owned 75% by Conoco and 25% by ExxonMobil, contains 1.8 Tcf; and Shell's Niglintgak Field holds another 1 Tcf. The initial phase of project definition could span up to four years and is expected to cost up to $160 million. \ 3 Canada In late December, Calgary-based firms Gentry Resources Ltd. and Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. concluded a five-well exploration program in the Princess area of southeastern Alberta, gaining three discoveries. The wells, which were drilled 3,900 to 4,250 ft., targeted Devonian Nisku-Arcs gas and Mississippian oil and gas reservoirs, says Canadian Discovery. Nearby highly productive Mississippian and Devonian reservoirs were the impetus for the exploration program. The first test, 10-22-020-12W4, flowed gas at rates up to 6 million cu. ft. per day from three Devonian intervals. All three of the successful wells are being production-tested. Gentry is planning a second phase of exploration drilling in the spring, targeting seismic features not tested in the first phase. 4 Canada A very significant well, operated by Marathon Oil (30% working interest) with partners PanCanadian Energy Corp., Murphy Oil and Norsk Hydro, has been spudded on the Annapolis Block (EL 2377) in 5,583 ft. of water offshore Nova Scotia. The Annapolis B-24 well has a projected total depth of 19,313 ft. This is the province's deepest-water well drilled to date, and represents the first deepwater well drilled in many years. The well is targeting a turbidite sand play. In separate activity, PanCanadian has also spudded the Queensland M-88 well on the Panuke Block. The well is licensed to a total depth of 14,596 ft. Partner Murphy Oil describes the target for this high-risk well as a clearly identified seismic event on the edge of the carbonate bank. PanCanadian's 2000 Deep Panuke discovery is estimated to have reserves of 1 trillion cu. ft. of gas. The Queensland well is the third of the company's 2001 offshore exploration program. The previous two, the Musquodoboit E-23 and Southampton A-25 wells, were abandoned in August and December 2001, respectively. 5 Venezuela French firm TotalFinaElf reports that construction has been completed at its $4.2-billion Sincor project in the Orinoco Belt, southwestern Anzoátegui state, and start-up is under way. At its peak, the project will produce 200,000 bbl. of extra-heavy oil per day. The oil will be diluted, piped to a facility at Jose on the Caribbean and upgraded into 180,000 bbl. of synthetic 32-degree API oil per day. TotalFinaElf holds a 47% interest in the project; its partners are PDVSA, 38%, and Statoil, 15%. 6 Brazil A consortium led by Devon Energy has made a heavy-oil discovery in shallow waters of the Campos Basin, reports E&P Daily. The 1-DEV-3-RJS well was drilled on Block BMC-8 in 100 meters of water to a total depth of 2,400 meters. The find is adjacent to Guarajuba Field, and may be related. Further exploration is planned by Devon and its partners, South Korean firm SK Energy and Brazilian firm Odebrecht. 7 Norway Petroleum Geo-Services plans to purchase Norsk Hydro's 42% share in PL038 in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The license is in the Sleipner area and includes Varg Field and three separate undeveloped licenses. Its partners are Petoro, with 30%, and Statoil, 28%. PGS owns the floating production, storage and offloading vessel, "Petrojarl Varg" that currently serves the field. Varg, in 84 meters of water, was discovered in 1984 and contained original recoverable reserves of 30 million bbl. of oil equivalent. First production was in December 1998 and at the end of 2000, contained 8.8 million bbl. of remaining reserves, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. 8 Algeria Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Agip and Maersk Olie have started production from Hassi Berkine Field, in blocks 404 and 403 in the Sahara Desert. The field's production of 75,000 bbl. of oil per day will be processed at the nearby Hassi Berkine South complex. 9 Angola Houston independent Ocean Energy has acquired an interest in the 1.2-million-acre Block 10, in the offshore Kwanza Basin. Ocean will hold a 35% working interest and operate the block; Sonangol will hold 20%; and the remaining 45% will be awarded to parties not yet named. Water depths on the block are up to 1,500 ft. To date, drilling results in Kwanza Basin have been disappointing, with the only discovery being ExxonMobil's heavy-oil Semba Field in adjacent Block 24. 10 Gabon Shell Gabon and partner Amerada Hess have discovered an onshore oil field with their Toucan-1 exploration well, some six miles from Shell's 850-million-bbl. Rabi-Kounga Field in southern Gabon. The new find, believed to contain recoverable reserves of 20- to 50 million bbl. of oil, is expected to produce 15,000 to 20,000 bbl. per day from a reservoir at 5,100 ft. In separate activity, TotalFinaElf's two most recent wells on the deepwater Astrid Marin and Anton Marin blocks are both apparently noncommercial, reports E&P Daily. The firm drilled the Genny well in 9,187 ft. of water and the Jeanette well in 6,234 ft. of water, but says they were only technical successes. TotalFinaElf owns a 28% interest in the blocks; Unocal, 25%; Kerr-McGee Corp., 14%; and Shell, Vanco Energy and Reading & Bates Development Co., 11% apiece. 11 Iran Statoil has been contracted by the National Iranian Oil Co. to prepare a development plan for raising production at Ahwaz, Bibi-hakimeh and Maroun fields in southwest Iran. Total production from the three fields is about 1.5 million bbl. per day. 12 Vietnam A joint venture of PetroVietnam, Petronas Carigali and Pertamina will explore and develop two blocks in the Nam Con Son Basin, offshore southern Vietnam. Con Son Joint Operating Co. will be held 40% by PetroVietnam and 30% each by Petronas and Pertamina. The venture will process seismic data, conduct studies and drill two exploration wells in blocks 10 and 11.1, which cover 8,000 square kilometers. 13 Australia Sydney-based Roc Oil and its partners in permit WA-286-P, in the northern part of the offshore Perth Basin, have made a discovery containing 80- to 100 million bbl. of oil, says the company. The Roc-operated Cliff Head-1 was drilled in 16 meters of water to a depth of 1,499 meters. It was followed by a successful appraisal well, Cliff Head-2, which confirmed the presence of reservoir sandstones. The second test, directionally drilled from the Cliff Head-1 location, bottomed 1.1 kilometers north-northeast of the vertical discovery well. Total measured depth was 2,020 meters. The wells encountered a gross oil column of 28.5 meters and reservoir porosities up to 28%. Roc owns a 30% interest and is operator; its partners are AWE Oil, 27.5%; Wandoo Petroluem, 25%; Arc Energy, 7.5%; and Voyager Energy and Norwest Energy, 5% apiece.

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