Gulf of Mexico

Energy Resource Technology GOM completed a Pliocene oil well on the company’s Tornado development in Green Canyon Block 281. The #1SS (ST) OCS G33242 flowed at a rate in excess of 20 Mboe/d during a two-week period. According to IHS Markit, the company intends to lower the flowrate to 13 Mboe/d to 16 Mboe/d until a second well is drilled and completed. The sidetrack was drilled to 6,326 m (20,755 ft), and the water depth is 838 m (2,750 ft). The Tornado discovery is south of Energy Resources’ Phoenix Field (Block 236). Field recovery through August 2016 was 2.4 MMbbl of crude/condensate and 104 MMcm (3.7 Bcf) of gas. Wells in the deepwater reservoir produce from a Pliocene zone at 4,752 m to 5,560 m (15,592 ft to 18,243 ft).

Peru

Baron Oil Plc has reported its latest estimates of unrisked prospective resources for blocks Z34 and XXI in Peru. In offshore Peru’s deepwater Block Z34 Baron Oil announced that the estimated gross unrisked best estimate (P50) prospective resources for the three prospects that have been remapped hold 885 MMbbl of recoverable oil—413 Mbbl in the Cuy Prospect, 200 MMbbl in the Cuy Sur Prospect and 272 MMbbl in the Daphne Prospect. The Cuy Sur prospect, located in the northern half of the block, will be drilled first. For onshore Block XXI the estimated gross unrisked best estimate (P50) prospective resources for El Barco Prospect is 181 MMcm (6.4 Bcf) of recoverable gas resource in the shallow section and 7.1 MMbbl of oil in the deep section. Both targets could be accessed by a single well.

Colombia

A Canacol Energy Ltd. gas discovery was announced at #1-Trombon in Colombia’s Lower Magdalena Basin Esperanza Block. The well was tested flowing 736 Mcm (26 MMcf/d) of gas. The venture is an offset to #1-Nispero, and it was drilled to 3,158 m (10,360 ft). It encountered 8 m (26 ft) of net gas pay with average porosity of 22% within the primary Cienaga de Oro (CDO) reservoir target. The reservoir interval was perforated from 2,538 m to 2,546 m (8,328 ft to 8,354 ft), and no water was reported. It was tested on an unreported choke size with a flowing tubing head pressure of 2,254 psi. The rig is moving to drill gas development well #3-Clarinete. Additional drilling is planned at development well #8-Nelson—it will be targeting productive reservoirs within the CDO reservoir that are not being drained by the existing producing wells in the Nelson Field. A third test is planned at #1-Mono Capuchino, an oil exploration well in Block VMM-2 in the Middle Magdalena Basin.

Colombia

Ecopetrol S.A. has announced plans to drill up to five offshore Colombia exploration wells in the Caribbean Sea. The first scheduled well, #1-Molusco, will be in Block RC9 near the La Guajira Peninsula. Ecopetrol is the operator of the RC9 Block and #1-Molusco well with 50% interest in partnership with the Oil and Natural Gas Corp., which holds the remaining 50%. In 2015 Petrobras announced a nearby gas discovery in the Caribbean Sea at #1-Orca in the Tayrona Block.

Colombia

GeoPark announced testing results from the #6 Jacana appraisal well in Colombia’s Llanos 34 Block. It was drilled to 3,561 m (11,684 ft) and tested with an electric submersible pump in Guadalupe across multiple sand units. It produced about 1.8 Mbbl/d of 16-degree gravity oil with a 17% water cut. The venture was tested on a 38⁄64-mm choke, and the wellhead pressure was 80 psi. Additional interval testing and production history are required to determine the stabilized flow rate and water cut source. The appraisal was drilled to test the western limits of the field. In 2017 the company plans to continue drilling appraisal wells and developing the Tigana/ Jacana oil trend to determine the full extent of the oil accumulation.

UK

A Weald Basin license PEDL234 analysis for UK Oil & Gas Investments has a calculated P50 original oil in place value of 1.7 Bbbl of oil within the Kimmeridge Limestone reservoirs in a 300-sq-km (116-sq-mile) area in the prospect area. During testing at #1-Horse Hill, the naturally fractured Kimmeridge Limestone flowed oil at an aggregate stabilized flow rate of 1.365 Mbbl/d: #1-Horse Hill is about 17 km (10.5 miles) northwest of the survey area.

UK

On the Zechstein prospect in U.K. North Sea license P2252, Cluff Natural Resources reported new P50 prospective resource estimates. The P50 prospective resources have been increased from 4.5 Bcm to 18 Bcm (162 Bcf to 636 Bcf) in the new Pensacola Prospect with significant exploration upside potential. The company recently reprocessed 3-D seismic data over the license area. A 3-D dataset study with Halliburton indicated a high-density north/south-oriented fracture network across the Lytham structure, which would enhance reservoir properties and production characteristics of the prospect. Revised interpretation indicates that the St. Annes lead forms the outer edge of a larger circular patch reef complex, the Pensacola Prospect. The patch reefs are analogous to producing fields in Poland and the U.S. and have the potential to contain signifi cant gas volumes and high-quality reservoirs.

Norway

Total, operator of production license PL 043, is completing the wildcat well #30/4-3 S in offshore Norway’s Martin Linge Field. The well encountered gas and condensate in Tarbert, Ness and Etive in the Brent group. Preliminary estimates by the company are between 2 MMcm and 11 MMcm (70.6 MMcf and 388 MMcf) of recoverable oil equivalent. It was tested on a 48⁄64-in. choke fl owing 2.4 MMcm/d (84.7 MMcf) of gas. The #30/4-3 S is the fourth exploration well in production license PL 043. It was drilled to 4,134 m (13,563 ft) and was completed in Dunlin in Early Jurassic. Area water depth is 115 m (377 ft).

Norway

In the southern part of the Barents Sea, Lundin Petroleum AB reported an oil and gas discovery at exploration well #1-Neiden in PL609, Block 7220/1. The well is about 60 km (37 miles) northeast of the Alta discovery on the Loppa High. The exploration was designed to prove oil in Triassic sandstone and Permian carbonate reservoirs. It encountered a gross 31-m (102-ft) hydrocarbon column with 21 m (69 ft) of oil and 10 m (33 ft) of gas in the Permian target. The total gross resource estimate for the Neiden discovery is between 25 MMboe and 60 MMboe.

Norway

According to OMV, the Wisting discovery in the Barents Sea is potentially the largest fi nd in the Norwegian Arctic to date. Wisting is the northernmost offshore Norway oil discovery and could contain more than 1 Bboe, according to company estimates. Field development would likely be via an FPSO vessel in a water depth of more than 400 m (1,312 ft), with projected production to begin in 2024 to 2025. The Wisting discovery is on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.