?If nothing else, the timing is interesting: the Icelandic government hosted an exploration conference in September, weeks after the release of a U.S. Geological Survey report of estimated oil and gas reserves in the Arctic and Britain’s University of Dunham Arctic-claims maps.
At the conference, the Icelandic government detailed exclusive offshore exploration licensing plans in the Dreki area, northeast of Iceland on the Jan Mayen Ridge, between Iceland and Jan Mayen Island.
According to Petroleum News, experts at the conference said surveys indicate that producible quantities of oil may exist in Dreki because of its geological similarity to existing producing areas. Iceland officials said that government-based E&P tax incentives would be available.
The potential for more maritime jurisdiction disputes could arise if USGS survey information is correct, and claim challenges could arise as governments seek to protect national interests and offset inflation with oil revenue.
—Larry Prado

?1 Canada
A Galleon Energy upper Montney horizontal well in northeastern British Columbia tested in excess of 200 bbl. of 42-degree API oil and 1 million cu. ft. per day of gas for a four-day period. Four multistage horizontal fracture-stimulations were performed, and natural gas line ties are expected soon. The Galleon horizontal is the first drilled on this Montney turbidite trend, and the company plans up to 12 horizontal wells under current spacing restrictions over the next 18 months. With downspacing, an additional 12 horizontal wells could be drilled. Galleon is based in Calgary.

2 Canada
According to Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City, the Jackfish 2 oil-sands project has been approved and will be completed in 2012. Jackfish 2 will produce about 35,000 bbl. of oil per day through steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) processes. Over the life of the project, Devon expects to recover about 300 million bbl. of oil. The company is ramping up production on its original Jackfish project, which is expected to reach 35,000 bbl. of oil per day in the first half of 2009. Jackfish 2 is south of Fort McMurray and about four miles west of the original Jackfish site in northeastern Alberta.

3 Colombia
According to IHS Inc., a 5,200-bbl.-per-day producer has been made in Corcel Field in the southern Llanos Basin. The Corcel-1, a Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. wildcat, was drilled to 3,658 meters and found 23.5 meters of net oil pay in Guadalupe and Lower Sand 1. The Lower Sand was completed and is producing 5,200 bbl. of 15-degree oil per day at a 98% oil cut. The company plans to produce the Lower Sand interval prior to completing the Guadalupe. The Corcel-C3 outpost is drilling toward a proposed total depth of 3,800 meters. Meanwhile, Calgary-based Petrobank is producing 4,957 bbl. of oil per day at a 57% oil cut from 54 meters of Guadalupe and Mirador zones in its Corcel-A4. The company discovered the field with its Corcel-A1 well in mid-2007; its Colombian subsidiary is Petrominerales Ltd.

4 Brazil
Another discovery in Brazil’s offshore Block BM-S-11 may help make Brazil one of the world’s largest offshore producers. Located 230 kilometers off the southeastern coast, Iara Field is estimated to have 3- to 4 billion bbl. of oil. The discovery is part of the world-class subsalt Santos Basin play, and on the same block as Petrobras’ 8-billion-bbl. Tupi Field. The #1-BRSA-618-RJS, the discovery for Iara Field, was drilled to a depth of 6,080 meters at a location north of Tupi. Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras owns 65% of the discovery; BG Group, 25%; and Galp Energia of Portugal, 10%.

5 Ghana
Vanco Energy Co. and partner Lukoil will begin drilling Dzata-1, the first exploration test on the Cape Three Points deepwater block, offshore Ghana, later this year. The block encompasses 1.25 million acres in the Tano Basin. Recent surveys indicate large compressional folds in a newly recognized sub-basin with nine major structural and stratigraphic prospects defined on the block. The Dzata prospect is a large anticlinal structure with numerous hydrocarbon indicators in Lower and Upper Cretaceous targets. Water depth is 1,869 meters and planned total depth is 4,900 meters. About 70 miles northwest of Dzata, Jubilee Field contains between 500 million and 1.8 billion bbl. of recoverable oil. Houston-based Vanco has a 28% interest; Lukoil, 57%; and state oil company GNPC, 15%.

6 Algeria
PetroCeltic International and StatoilHydro have been active in onshore Algerian exploration prospects. Dublin-based PetroCeltic is working on a multi-well drilling program for the TXA Couloir Ridge structure in the Isarene exploration permit, blocks 228 and 229, in the Illizi Basin. PetroCeltic submitted appraisal programs for Hassi Tabtab (HTT) and Issaouane South (ISAS) discoveries after promising 3-D seismic surveys over the North Ain Tsila Ridge, including the HTT and ISAS structures. PetroCeltic estimates that recoverable reserves for the ridge may exceed 2 trillion cu. ft. of gas, and other HTT and ISAS structures may have gas resources up to 900 billion cu. ft.
Meanwhile, Norwegian firm StatoilHydro announced a fifth gas discovery at TNKW-1 in the Hassi Mouina license in the Sahara Desert. The Hassi Mouina license includes four blocks within a 23,000-sq.-kilometer area in the Gourara Basin, northwest of In Salah Gas Field.

7 Hungary
Production has begun from a discovery in northeastern Hungary. The PEN-104, operated by PetroHungaria, a joint venture of London-based Ascent Resources and Geomega, a Hungarian firm, is producing 3.12 million cu. ft. of gas per day. The discovery, drilled in 2006, is in the Penészlek area of the Nyírség permits in Hungary. Other partners include DualEx, Leni Gas & Oil Plc and Swede Resources. Future plans for the area include acquisition of 3-D seismic to delineate additional gas reservoirs. Two Penészlek Field wells in the area, PEN-9 and PEN 12, have tested gas but have not yet been put into production.

8 North Sea
A major StatoilHydro discovery of an estimated 100- to 125 million bbl. of recoverable oil has been made on the Dagny structure in the Norwegian North Sea. The 15/5-7 test, drilled in production license 048, encountered a 100-meter oil column in mid-Jurassic reservoirs below existing gas production. The well was drilled to 4,037 meters in 119 meters of water about 10 kilometers northwest of Sleipner West. Stat­oilHydro operates PL 048 and holds a 78.2% interest; Total SA, 21.8%. ExxonMobil Corp. operates adjoining PL 029, and split the cost of the well with the PL 048 partners.

9 Kazakhstan
Canada-registered PetroKa­zakhstan has released information about two exploration successes in the Turgay Basin.?The limited details reported to IHS Inc. indicate that Karabulak-2, drilled in the Karaganda contract area, flowed 1,277 bbl. of oil per day. In the Doshan contract area, Doshan-14 tested 686 bbl. of oil per day, and Doshan-15 yielded 214 bbl. oil and 5.9 million cu. ft. of gas per day.?Discoveries in this basin area are associated with shallow Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous continental clastics plays.?
The Doshan contract area includes the Doshan oil discovery in the Jurassic Ayboli and Doshchan formations at depths between 1,290-2,050 meters.

10 Vietnam
An offshore Vietnam Soco International Plc well, TGT-7X in the Cuu Long Basin, flowed 8,100 bbl. of oil and 500,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. Two drillstem tests were conducted on TGT-7X, in Te Giac Trang Field. The lower section of the Lower Miocene from 2,922.5 to 3,002.5 meters yielded 7,100 bbl. and 5.9 million cu. ft. of gas daily. A second test, between 2,754-73 meters in Lower Miocene, flowed 1,000 bbl. of oil and 500,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. The #TGT-7X well was drilled to a previously untested fault block, H3N, in TGT Field, which comprises five fault blocks over a north-to-south trend in the eastern portion of Block 16-1. Soco’s headquarters

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