In a major event for Africa's Republic of Ghana, the Mahogany-1 exploration well, drilled offshore West Cape, Three Points license, has discovered a significant light-oil accumulation. The well, operated by Houston-independent Anadarko Petroleum, is still being drilled, but based on drilling information, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluid, it has already encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of 270 meters, including 95 meters of net stacked pay. The well, in water depths of 1,320 meters, has reached 3,683 meters on its way to total depth of 4,200 meters.

The well has found a Santonian turbidite stratigraphic trap, which opens a new play in Tano Basin. The structure straddles both West Cape Three Points and Deepwater Tano licenses.

Anadarko is the technical operator of the well and holds a 30.875% interest; Kosmos Energy is the block operator and holds a 30.875% interest; and Tullow Oil Plc has 22.896%. Other partners are Sabre Oil and Gas Ltd. and E.O. Group. The Ghana National Petroleum Corp. will be carried through the exploration and development phases with a 10% participating interest.



1 Venezuela

Petroleos de Venezuela SA is drilling its first wells after taking over ConocoPhillips' operation at Corocoro in the northeastern corner of Venezuela. ConocoPhillips has not accepted the government's takeover and domination of the field. The U.S.-based major also has a 40% share of the Ameriven heavy oil joint venture project on the Orinoco Belt and hasn't yet agreed to the government's takeover of that operation either, Business News Americas reports.



2 Trinidad

Australian firm BHP Billiton is conducting pre-development work on the second phase of its Angostura development on Block 2(c) off the northeastern coast of Trinidad. The company set up the development work with a memorandum of agreement to sell the nation's National Gas Co. 220 million cu. ft. of gas a day starting in 2010. Talisman Energy, a 25% partner in the operation, also holds interests in Block 2(c) and 3(a).



3 Ecuador

Brazil's Petrobras plans to spend at least $500 million in Ecuador during the next two years, but that number could grow dramatically if Petrobras follows through on its plan to join Chile's Enap and China's Sinopec in developing giant Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini fields in Yasuni Park. The complex would cost some $5 billion to develop, but it would pay off with 1 billion bbl. of oil. International consulting group Wood Mackenzie outlined some of the challenges: the fields are in a remote, environmentally sensitive area that would need considerable infrastructure and the typically heavy crude has a high water cut. The remote area has few roads and much of the equipment would have to come by barge on the Napo River. The project could produce at a peak rate of 100,000 bbl. of oil a day, a big plus in Ecuador's declining oil industry. Wood Mackenzie estimated 5.5 billion bbl. of oil in place and recoverable reserves of 920 million bbl.



4 Brazil

Petrobras penetrated a 130-meter gas column at 3,378 meters at its 6-ESS-168 exploratory well in Espirito Santo Basin. The new well is north of Petrobras' Camarupim Field and may extend that field to the north within the BM-ES-5 concession. The well site is 37 kilometers from the coast of Espirito Santo state in 763 meters of water. Petrobras, as operator, holds 65% and Houston-based El Paso Corp. holds the remainder. The discovery well for Camarupim Field, the 4-ESS-164A, found a 112-meter gas column.



5 United Kingdom

Canadian firm Oilexco Inc. discovered multiple production zones at its 40%-owned Huntington prospect in Block 22/14b in the Central North Sea. The 22/14b-5 wildcat tested at a maximum rate of 4,624 bbl. of oil and 1.6 million cu. ft. of gas a day through a 64/64-in. choke with 310 psi of flowing tubing pressure. The well reached 4,064 meters and found 30 meters of light oil in Paleocene Forties formation at 2,733 meters and 18 meters of oil in Upper Jurassic Fulmar at 3,889 meters. The company plans additional appraisal drilling in the fourth quarter to confirm the size of the producing structures.



6 Norway

Statoil has started up subsea systems as it prepares for first production later this year at its Snøhvit gas and condensate field in the Barents Sea offshore northern Norway. This $1.33-billion project will be the first offshore Norway field remotely operated from an onshore base, according to Ogilvie's E&P Daily. The company is testing production through a temporary production vessel over the field, but that vessel will leave the field and production will travel by pipe directly to the onshore base.



7 Portugal

Petrobras signed an exploration and production agreement with Galp Energia and Partex, both of Portugal, covering four offshore exploratory blocks in Lusitaniana Basin north of Lisbon. Petrobras is operator with a 50% share in the blocks, Galp has 30% and Partex the remainder. The agreement sets up the first exploration and production ever conducted off the Portuguese coast. The agreement covers Camarao, Amerijoa, Mixilhao and Ostra blocks in water from 200 to 3,000 meters deep in an offshore area covering 12,000 sq. kilometers. The group will initially invest $20- to $30 million and can hold the properties through an eight-year exploratory period.



8 Hungary

Denver, Colorado-based Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. tested its Magyarcsanad-1 wildcat for 377 bbl. of light oil and 745,000 cu. ft. of gas a day, before fracturing, at its Mako Trough area in Hungary. The well tested from an 11-meter interval in Endrod formation at 4,057 meters. Falcon will fracture the full 362 meters of Endrod behind casing and run further tests. The new well is some 9 kilometers east of Falcon's previous Mako wells. Those wells also produce from Endrod. The latest well serves as a southern delineation well for the basin-centered gas accumulation in the Mako Trough area.



9 Turkey

Three wells producing a combined 20 million cu. ft. of gas a day marked the start of production from the South Akcakoca sub-basin in the Black Sea offshore Turkey. Partners in the project are Dallas-based Toreador Resources, Stratic Energy and Turkish state oil company TPAO. All three wells, Akkaya-1a, 2 and 3, produce to the Akkaya platform. The companies plan to adjust rates as they bring two more platforms into production in the next few months. The partners expect all three platforms on line and producing 50 million cu. ft. of gas a day early in third quarter.



10 Kazakhstan

Agip KCO, operator of giant Kashagan Field offshore Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea, got a good look at the potential of a 13-billion-bbl. field as one well tested at more than 35,000 bbl. a day of oil, Interfax reports. All wells currently drilled have capacity to produce 120,000 bbl. of oil a day. Agip has drilled six exploratory wells, 13 confirmation wells and 10 production wells on its artificial Island A, and is drilling three more confirmation wells and two more production wells. The companies have delayed the start of production until 2010. Partners are Agip parent Eni SpA, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Conoco­Phillips, Inpex Holdings Inc. and Kazmunaigas.



11 Uganda

Tullow Oil is set to sanction an early production system for its finds in Uganda, which it calls a "new world class oil province". The U.K. independent said it now hopes for first oil from Lake Albert Rift Basin in 2009. An early production system could include production and processing facilities to fuel a local power station and also supply a mini-refinery. The company is drilling the Nzizi-2 appraisal well, to be followed by two further appraisal wells on the Mputa discovery in order to refine current reserve estimates. These wells, combined with 3-D seismic, will be used to support the sanction of the early production system leading to first oil in 2009. Preparations are underway to drill Ngassa and Kingfisher-2 prospects and a rig has been contracted to starting the program during the third quarter.



12 Qatar

Anadarko Petroleum will sell all its production assets in Qatar to Occidental Petroleum for $350 million. Anadarko holds a 92.5% interest in Block 12, which includes Al Rayyan Field, representing all of the company's production operations in Qatar. Current net production from Qatar is approximately 6,000 bbl. of oil equivalent a day. Anadarko will retain its exploration interests in Qatar in Blocks 4 and 11.



13 Indonesia

Chevron is preparing an enhanced oil recovery project at Indonesia's 4-billion-bbl. Minas Field to increase production. The company has studied a variety of technologies and has agreed in principle to conduct limited scale field trials to test the performance of surfactant/polymer, the chemical considered for the EOR project. Injection could start by early 2011. Chevron already produces around 420,000 bbl. of oil a day in Indonesia.



14 Australia

Project operator Chevron expects environmental approval for its Gorgon joint venture offshore Western Australia within months, although the time schedule for the development will not be final until an ongoing review of costs is complete in the near future. The $12.7-billion gas project is in the final stages of the approval process. Chevron's partners in the giant venture are Shell and ExxonMobil. A new timetable will be set once the cost review is finished.

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