Chevron Strikes Oil in Deepwater GOM

- Chevron Strikes Oil in Deepwater GOM

Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Chevron Corp.

Chevron announced a new oil discovery at the Moccasin prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The Keathley Canyon Block 736 Well No. 1 encountered more than 380 feet of net pay in the Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sands. The well is located approximately 216 miles off the Louisiana coast in 6,759 feet of water and was drilled to a depth of 31,545 feet.

"The Moccasin discovery underscores the importance of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico as a source of domestic energy for the United States and as a focus area for Chevron's worldwide exploration portfolio," said George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron Corporation. "Moccasin is an important addition to our queue of high-quality opportunities around the globe."

Chevron began drilling the Moccasin well in March 2010. That activity was stopped in June 2010 when the U.S. government imposed a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling resumed in March 2011 after the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved Chevron's revised drilling permit application.

The well results are still being evaluated, and additional work will be needed to determine the extent of the resource. Chevron, with a 43.75 percent working interest in the prospect, was the operator of the Moccasin discovery well. Other Moccasin owners are BP, with 43.75 percent, and Samson Offshore Company, with 12.5 percent.

Chevron is one of the largest leaseholders in the Gulf of Mexico and is currently developing the $7.5 billion Jack/St. Malo and the $4.1 billion Big Foot projects.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

Judge Strikes Down US Policy on O&G Permits

- Judge Strikes Down US Policy on O&G Permits

Monday, August 15, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
WASHINGTON
by Ryan Tracy

A federal judge has struck down an Obama administration policy related to drilling permits on public lands, leading oil and gas companies to hope more permits in the western U.S. will be forthcoming.

But it wasn't clear Monday how the Interior Department, which processes the permits, would respond. The ruling, issued Friday by the U.S. District Court in Wyoming, rejected a policy that had required more extensive environmental review of some drilling permits.

Interior "had no authority" to adopt the policy last year "without public notice and an opportunity for comment," Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal wrote. She ruled in favor of an industry group and vacated the policy nationwide.

An Interior Department spokesman said the agency was reviewing the ruling and declined to comment further.

The ruling "holds the promise of new jobs and economic growth," said Kathleen Sgamma, director of government and public affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, which filed the suit and represents Devon and Anadarko, among others.

Permitting on U.S. land quickened under the Bush administration and hit a peak during the 2007 fiscal year, when Interior approved 7,124 permits to drill for oil and gas on federal lands. The Obama administration, by contrast, approved 4,487 such permits in 2009 and 4,090 in 2010, according to data from Interior's Bureau of Land Management, or BLM.

Some of that drop can be attributed to lower demand as a result of the economic downturn, but the industry says permits are also taking longer to obtain.

For its part, BLM has argued that its new permitting policies are more efficient because a stronger up-front review will lead to fewer lawsuits and delays down the road.

At issue in Friday's court ruling was a provision in the 2005 Energy Policy Act that allowed oil and gas companies to skip federal environmental reviews under certain circumstances -- for example, if a well was being drilled from an existing site where drilling had occurred within the previous five years.

In May 2010, Interior instructed its staff to allow such exceptions under "extraordinary circumstances." Freudenthal said that decision amounted to an "about-face" from past practice, so the agency must formally propose the change and solicit public input.

Sgamma said she hoped Interior would rescind the current policy for now. The department might also keep it in place and appeal the ruling.

"It's not like we'll start to get permits quicker here on out in the short term," Sgamma said. "We'll have to wait to see what the government does."

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

Beach Strikes Oil at Elliston-1 Well

- Beach Strikes Oil at Elliston-1 Well

Monday, August 15, 2011
Beach Energy Ltd.

Beach Energy has made a new field oil discovery at Elliston-1, the second successful exploration well from three drilled in PEL 92 (Beach 75%) for the financial year to date.

The Elliston-1 well, located in the Western Flank of the Cooper Basin, encountered an oil column with net pay of three meters in the Namur Sandstone section of the well. Preliminary volumetric assessment indicates a discovery in the order of one hundred thousand barrels of recoverable oil (gross).

The Elliston-1 reservoir appears to be of high quality with the potential to deliver strong flow rates. As it is near infrastructure, the tie-in of the well should be relatively quick, with the well expected to be on-line in the fourth quarter.

Following the completion of the evaluation program, the Ensign #30 rig will be moved to the Perlubie-2 appraisal well which is located about four kilometers to the south of Elliston-1.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

Harvest Natural Strikes Again Offshore Gabon

- Harvest Natural Strikes Again Offshore Gabon

Thursday, July 21, 2011
Harvest Natural Resources Inc.

Harvest Natural Resources announced an update to its drilling operations in the Dussafu Ruche Marin-1 (DRM-1) well drilled in the Dussafu Marin PSC, offshore Gabon, West Africa. Harvest operates the Dussafu PSC, holding a 66.667% interest.

The DRM-1 well was initially drilled in 380 feet of water. On June 10, 2011, Harvest announced an oil discovery in the pre-salt Gamba reservoir with plans to deepen the well to test Middle and Lower Dentale exploration potential and sidetrack to appraise the extent of the Gamba oil discovery.

Subsequently the DRM-1 well has been deepened to reach a true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS) of 11,355 feet to test the prospectivity of the Middle and Lower Dentale Formations. Log evaluation, pressure data and a fluid sample indicate that Harvest has discovered a second oil accumulation with approximately 35 feet of oil pay within the secondary objective of the Middle Dentale Formation.

The Gamba discovery has been appraised by drilling a sidetrack (DRM-1ST1) 0.75 miles to the southwest to test the lateral extent and structural elevation of the Gamba reservoir. The sidetrack was drilled to a TD in the Upper Dentale of 11,562 feet, (9,428 feet TVDSS) and found 19 feet of oil pay in the Gamba reservoir.

Harvest will now sidetrack the DRM-1 well to the northwest of the original DRM-1 wellbore to further appraise the extent and structural elevation of the Gamba and the commerciality of the Ruche discovery.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

Woodside Strikes Over A$1 Billion Deal With Landowners Over Browse

- Woodside Strikes Over A$1 Billion Deal With Landowners Over Browse

Thursday, June 30, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
SYDNEY
by Ross Kelly

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL.AU) said Thursday that it has signed an agreement with landowners allowing it to develop the massive Browse gas export project in Western Australia state.

Woodside said the agreement with the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr native title claim group includes initiatives worth over A$1 billion, such as education, training and employment programs, support for indigenous businesses and payments when project milestones are met.

The Browse joint venture also includes Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), Chevron Corp. (CVX), BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) and BP PLC. (BP.LN).

It's planning to give final approval to the development, estimated by analysts to cost more than $30 billion, by mid-2012.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

Salamander Strikes Oil Offshore Thailand

- Salamander Strikes Oil Offshore Thailand

Monday, June 27, 2011
Salamander Energy plc

Salamander provided the following update on its current drilling activity in Thailand, including the announcement of a material oil discovery in the East Terrace prospect.

B8/38 License (Salamander 100%, operator)

The current drilling program, using the Ocean Sovereign jack-up rig located on the Bualuang Wellhead Platform ("WHP"), includes three new horizontal production wells, two horizontal sidetracks of existing wells and a pilot hole to test the East Terrace prospect. To date, two producers have been drilled and completed and the East Terrace exploration pilot hole drilled.

East Terrace Oil Discovery

A long reach well was drilled from the WHP to 2,961m measured depth to test the East Terrace fault block. This well encountered approximately 35 meters of net oil pay within three zones. Over 6 meters of net pay was encountered in the upper T5 sandstone interval. In the deeper T4 interval (the main reservoir unit in the Bualuang oil field) an additional 18 meters of net oil pay was encountered, while in the lower T3 interval a further 11 meters of net pay was found.

A full evaluation program including pressure measurements and fluid sampling was conducted over the intervals of interest, confirming the East Terrace as being a separate accumulation to the main field, with a different oil viscosity, gas/oil ratio and oil-water contact than the main Bualuang field. The preliminary evaluation of the data indicate a mid-case estimate of 50 MMbo in-place and a most likely recoverable volume in the range 8 - 14 MMbo. This range represents the high end of pre-drill estimates.

Bualuang Development Drilling

The development drilling program commenced on April 22nd, having been delayed due to administrative issues and necessary repairs to the rig's legs. To date, two of the five development wells planned for this phase of development have been completed and brought on stream, including a long-reach well into the previously undrilled northern area of the Bualuang structure. At this location the top T4 main reservoir came in some 4 meters high to prognosis, offering scope for an upgrade to gross rock volume and hence reserves for the field overall.

The next two development wells in the Bualuang field are to be completed, as planned. The final horizontal producer will be completed either in the East Terrace or in main body of the field, subject to a decision based on analysis of data acquired from the East Terrace exploration pilot hole.

Following this development drilling campaign, the Ocean Sovereign jack-up rig will be moving off location for a scheduled inspection and certification.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, a sidetrack of an existing well will be conducted with a workover rig (under an existing contract). In addition, Salamander is currently preparing to tender for another jack up rig to complete the exploration campaign in B8/38, which is now anticipated to take place in 4Q 2011.

Block L15/50 (Salamander 50%, operator)

The Dao Ruang-3 appraisal well was spudded on 25th April and to date has reached a depth of approximately 1,590 m measured depth. The well encountered difficulties while drilling the Kuchinarai shale interval. The well has been sidetracked twice in order to by-pass the shale which it has now done. With the challenging shale formation now behind casing, drilling will continue to the planned total depth of approximately 2,565 m MD in order to test the Pha Nok Khao target interval. Approximately 14 days of additional drilling time is anticipated in order to complete the well.

Commenting on the progress of the B8/38 drilling program, James Menzies, Chief Executive, said, "We are pleased to deliver a material oil resource addition through the exploration drill bit, at the top end of pre-drill estimates. The ability to immediately tie-in to nearby infrastructure means these are high value barrels, which we expect to book and which will lead to a sharp upward revision to Bualuang reserves.

In addition, the development wells, though delayed, are performing in-line with our expectations, giving us further confidence in our ability to predict the behavior of the Bualuang field reservoir."

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Apache Strikes Multiple Pay in Egypt's Faghur Basin

- Apache Strikes Multiple Pay in Egypt's Faghur Basin

Thursday, June 16, 2011
Apache Corp.

Apache reported five new oil discoveries in its Faghur Basin play in the far southwest of Egypt's Western Desert oil and gas province.

Apache also said that the AG-96 development well in the Abu Gharadig Concession tested 3,347 barrels of oil and 1 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas per day from the Lower Bahariya formation. The well – drilled on acreage acquired from BP in late 2010 – is expected to lead to several additional wells before year end.

The Faghur Basin discoveries included:

• West Kalabsha-I-4 logged 79 feet of net pay in the Jurassic Safa sands. In a test, the well flowed 7,150 barrels of oil per day and 11.4 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas per day.
• Faghur North-1X logged 25 feet of net pay in the Safa and Paleozoic Desouqy sands. Combined tests had a rate of 1,444 barrels of oil and 3.9 MMcf of gas per day.
• Faghur South-1X logged 38 feet of net pay in Safa and Cretaceous AEB-6 sands. The Safa tested 2,768 barrels of oil and 4 MMcf of gas per day.
• Huni-1X logged 27 feet of net pay in the AEB-3 sands. The well tested 970 barrels per day from the AEB-3E sand.
• Neith North-1X logged 20 feet of net pay in the AEB-3 sands and 57 feet of net pay in the Safa sands. A Safa well test is planned this month.

"The Faghur Basin continues to be a successful focus area for Apache, with AEB, Safa, and now Paleozoic reservoirs that have proven to be prolific oil and gas producers. These recent discoveries support the multi-pay potential of this oil-prone area of the Western Desert," said Tom Voytovich, vice president of Apache's Egypt Region. "The Huni and Neith North discoveries continue Apache's recent exploration success in the eastern area of the Faghur Basin.

"These discoveries and production from the Tayim development lease approved during the revolution period illustrate the fact that Egypt's energy sector is continuing to move forward," Voytovich said. "Our recent drilling successes provide clear evidence of the exploration potential on Apache acreage in Egypt and the benefits of working in stacked-pay areas."

Apache recently drilled the first discovery on its westernmost exploration concession. The Siwa-D-1X drilled in the Siwa Concession pushed Jurassic and Cretaceous plays farther south and westward and will lead to follow-up exploration prospects. Apache expects to commence production from the well upon approval of a development plan later in 2011.

The Tayim West-1X discovery in the West Kalabsha Concession represents the first Paleozoic success found in a reservoir separate from the younger proven Jurassic and Cretaceous sands and opens up the area to further deep tests in upcoming wells. The discovery is currently on production.

Thus far in 2011, Apache has drilled eight new discoveries in 10 attempts in the Faghur Basin, and drilling is under way on three additional wells –Mandulis-1X, Neilos-1X and Faghur North-2X. Eight additional exploration wells are planned for the area this year.

Apache continues to evaluate 3-D seismic surveys to identify additional exploration opportunities, including a recently completed 400-square-mile (1,040 square kilometers) survey across the Apache-operated Sallum Concession on the west side of the basin, and a 656-square-mile (1,698 square kilometers) survey covering the eastern part of the basin underlying the Khalda Offset, South Umbarka and Shushan concessions.

Apache's current gross operated production in Egypt totals approximately 215,000 barrels of oil and 900 MMcf of gas per day, including 40,000 barrels of oil per day from the Faghur Basin.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Santos Strikes Additional Oil Pay at Finucane South Well

- Santos Strikes Additional Oil Pay at Finucane South Well

Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Tap Oil Ltd.

Tap Oil provided the following update on Santos' Finucane South-1A exploration well, offshore Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia.

Logs have confirmed the well is a new field oil discovery encountering some 18.5m of excellent quality net oil pay in the Late Jurassic Angel Formation. The interpretation is based on both LWD (Logging While Drilling) and wireline logs, including pressure testing and sampling over the target interval. Early evaluation indicates the discovery could exceed the pre-drill mean estimate of 8 million barrels.

Location

The Finucane South-1A well is located in permit WA-191-P, in the northern end of the Carnarvon Basin. The well location is latitude 19° 18' 17.927" S and longitude 116° 45' 31.697" E.

Progress

During the period from 06:00 hours WST on May 25, 2011 to 19:00 hours WST on May 30, 2011 the corrosion cap was set over Finucane South-1A with the well suspended. The rig was then ASXskidded over to the Finucane South-1 location and abandonment completed. The rig was released at 19:00 hours on May 30, 2011.

Background

The Finucane South discovery is located at the northern end of the Carnarvon Basin, approximately 15km east of the Mutineer facility. Finucane South-1A was drilled to identify additional resources to supplement the discovered resources contained in the adjacent Fletcher Field.

Finucane South is a moderate-sized structural closure mapped at the base of the Cretaceous regional seal. Water depth at the well location is approximately 140m. Finucane South-1A was drilled 2km SSW of the Finucane-1 well (1978) which intersected oil shows at the top of the Angel Formation despite having been drilled off structure.

Based on Finucane South-1A's proximity to other wells in the area (notably Finucane-1 and the Fletcher oil wells) plus its coverage by reprocessed 3D seismic, the risk attached to drilling can be categorized as low-moderate.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Noble Strikes Oil at Santiago Prospect in GOM

- Noble Strikes Oil at Santiago Prospect in GOM

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Noble Energy Inc.
by SubseaIQ

Noble Energy announced a discovery at the Santiago exploration prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well, located in 6,500 feet of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 519, was drilled to a total depth of approximately 18,920 feet. Open-hole logging identified approximately 60 feet of oil pay in a high-quality Miocene reservoir. Noble Energy is the operator at Santiago with a 23.25 percent working interest.

Santiago is the third discovery in the Company's Galapagos project, in addition to the prior successes at Santa Cruz and Isabela. Total gross resources discovered in the larger Galapagos project, including the Santiago well, are estimated by Noble Energy to be 130 million barrels of oil equivalent. Approximately 75 percent of the discovered resources are oil.

Charles D. Davidson, Noble Energy's Chairman and CEO, said, "The discovery at Santiago is a great way to resume our drilling program in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well results were very consistent with our pre-drill expectations, and our teams did an outstanding job in the midst of a changing operating environment. We expect all three wells at Galapagos to be online in early 2012, and we are increasing the project's total net production impact to Noble Energy to over ten thousand barrels of oil per day. This major project will deliver significant near-term production and cash flow for our business."

In late February 2011, the Company received the industry's first drilling permit after the deepwater Gulf of Mexico moratorium for the Santiago prospect, where drilling was suspended in June 2010. Drilling operations resumed in early April 2011 following multiple reviews of operating and response plans, as well as third-party certifications of well designs and equipment.

Utilizing the Ensco 8501 drilling rig, the Company will immediately proceed with completion operations at Santiago. Those operations are expected to last approximately two months, after which the Company is planning to return to drilling the Deep Blue prospect (Green Canyon 723). Following Deep Blue, the Company is planning to spud an appraisal well at the Gunflint discovery (Mississippi Canyon 948).

Other interest owners in the Santiago discovery are Houston Energy, L.P. with 10 percent, Red Willow Offshore, LLC with 20.25 percent, and BP Exploration & Production Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BP America Inc. with the remaining 46.5 percent.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Coastal Strikes Again at Bua Ban North

- Coastal Strikes Again at Bua Ban North

Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Coastal Energy Co.

Coastal announced the successful results of the Bua Ban North B-05 exploration well.

The Bua Ban North B-05 well was drilled to 7,600 feet TVD and encountered 178 feet of net pay in the Miocene objective with average porosity of 27%. The B-05 is currently being cased and will then be suspended pending the arrival of testing equipment. The Company then plans to spud the B-04 well to appraise the Miocene reservoir updip from the discovery in the B-01 well.

The Company's offshore production is currently averaging 8,500 bopd. Onshore production is averaging 2,000 boe/d, bringing total Company production to 10,500 boe/d.

Randy Bartley, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Energy, commented, "The B-05 well was designed to encounter maximum net pay by drilling along the bounding fault plane within a single structural trap. The Bua Ban North A-03 well was drilled with a similar well design and had similar results. We plan to utilize this drilling technique in future wells to optimize pay zones.

"Given the exceptional results thus far at Bua Ban North B, we have decided to divert the MOPU from Bua Ban North A to begin testing Bua Ban North B first. We are in the process of procuring an additional MOPU for Bua Ban North A, which we expect to be on location during the third quarter.

"The results of the B-05 further validate the tremendous upside potential of the Miocene trend in the Songkhla basin. Based on recent drilling results, we believe the Miocene trend extends into the central part of the basin and becomes shallower as it moves east. Once appraisal work is completed at Bua Ban North B and testing has begun, we plan to move the rig to a new location further to the east to continue exploring the Miocene trend.

"Production at Songkhla A has fallen recently due to declining rates from the wells drilled in Q410 and Q111. These three wells discovered new reservoirs which are not in communication with the main Songkhla reservoir and consequently are not benefiting from existing water injection wells. We are planning to drill water injection wells on these reservoirs to restore aquifer support and production rates once EIA approval is received, which is expected within two months."

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Petrobras Strikes Oil in Campos Basin

Petrobras Strikes Oil in Campos Basin

Friday, April 29, 2011
Petrobras

Petrobras announced the discovery of a new oil accumulation in the Campos Basin pre-salt, through well 6-AB-119D-RJS drilled in the Albacora field, 107 km off the coast and only 3.2km from the FPSO P-31, by semisub Ocean Concord.

Preliminary volume estimates indicate an economically recoverable volume potential of approximately 350 million barrels of good quality oil (light).

Drilled at a water depth of 380m, it reached the total depth of 4835m, where an oil column of 241m was found, of which 104m are from the carbonate reservoirs of the Macabu Formation, with porosity around 10%.

This discovery will be the object of the Assessment Plan to be opportunely submitted to the ANP. The execution of the Long Duration Test to investigate the production behavior of this new accumulation will be decided after the assessment of the cased-hole drill-stem tests (CHDST) programmed for two selected intervals.

OGX Strikes Oil in Campos Appraisals

OGX Strikes Oil in Campos Appraisals

Wednesday, April 20, 2011
OGX S.A.
by SubseaIQ

OGX has identified the presence of hydrocarbons in the Albian section of 3-OGX-40D-RJS well and in the Albian-Cenomanian section of the well 3-OGX-41D-RJS, both appraisal wells from the Pipeline and Waikiki accumulations, respectively.

"The wells OGX-40 and OGX-41 confirmed the successful OGX delimitative campaign in the Campos Basin and reinforced the Company's base case to develop the 4.1 billion barrels already discovered in the Campos Basin," stated Paulo Mendonça, Executive General Officer and Exploration Officer of OGX.

"The accumulations of Pipeline and Waikiki are among the priorities to be developed for production, due to the advanced stage of the discoveries' delimitation and the quality of the reservoirs," commented Reinaldo Belotti, Production Officer of OGX.

The well OGX-40 found an oil column of approximately 204 meters with a net pay of about 107 meters in carbonate reservoirs in the Albian section. The well OGX-41 discovered an oil column of approximately 148 meters with a net pay of about 92 meters, also in carbonate reservoirs in the Albian-Cenomanian section.

The well OGX-40D is the second appraisal well in the Pipeline accumulation discovered by the well OGX-2A. The first appraisal well of the accumulation was the OGX-36, which also confirmed the presence of oil and contributed to its delimitation. The well OGX-41D is the second appraisal well of the Waikiki accumulation, discovered by the well OGX-25, with OGX-35 being the first appraisal well. The discoveries' evaluation plans for the Pipeline and Waikiki will soon be proposed to ANP.

It is worth noting that wells OGX-40 (Pipeline) and OGX (Waikiki), as well as the wells OGX-35 (Waikiki), OGX-36 and OGX-39HP (both in the Pipeline accumulation), would increased OGX's contingent resources area, in case the certification happened at this moment.

Both wells are deviated and pilots for horizontal wells, in which drill-stem tests could be performed to verify the productivity of these areas, as was done recently for the Waimea accumulation, where exceptional results were obtained.

The OGX‐40D well is located in the BM‐C‐41 block and is situated about 79 kilometers off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro at a water depth of approximately 130 meters. The Sea Explorer rig initiated drilling activities there on March 28, 2011.

The OGX‐41D well is located in the BM‐C‐39 block and is situated about 89 kilometers off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro at a water depth of approximately 104 meters. The Ocean Lexington rig initiated drilling activities there on April 3, 2011.

Statoil Strikes Oil Offshore Brazil

Statoil Strikes Oil Offshore Brazil

Thursday, April 14, 2011
Statoil

A new oil find has been made by Statoil immediately adjacent the Peregrino field in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil.

An exploration well drilled in the Peregrino South structure a few kilometers south of Peregrino has encountered oil in sandstones of the Carapebus geological formation.

A significant gross oil column of 130 meters has been proven in the well and further work will be performed to confirm the volumes.

The drilling operation is still ongoing to penetrate deeper reservoir units and explore additional upside potential below the main reservoir unit.
Significant upside

"The results confirm the significant potential in the Peregrino area and underline the beliefs we have had in the upside,” said Tim Dodson, executive vice president for Exploration in Statoil.

"The well verifies the upside potential and will together with the Peregrino Southwest discovery from 2007 play an important role in further development of the Peregrino area."

"The results will indeed be implemented into our plans for further development of the field," said Kjetil Hove, head of Statoil's Brazil activities and vice president in the company's Development and Production International business area.

Following the completion of the Peregrino South well, one additional appraisal well in the Peregrino Southwest structure will be drilled to conclude the overall size of the new development.
Peregrino start-up

Oil production from the Peregrino field started last week and will gradually ramp up to a plateau of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, making Statoil an important long-term operator and partner in Brazil's growing oil and gas industry.

The initial development of the field is estimated to contain 300 to 600 recoverable million barrels of oil equivalents, and the new discovery will add additional volumes going forward.

Drilling of the well is being carried out by the Blackford Dolphin rig at a water depth of 120 meters.

Operated by Statoil, the Peregrino field is 85 kilometers off the Brazilian coast from Rio de Janeiro. In May 2010 Statoil sold a 40% stake of the Peregrino field to the Sinochem Group. Statoil holds 60% ownership and the operatorship of the field and Sinochem the remaining 40%. The closing of the transaction is pending governmental approvals.

Coastal Strikes Oil Pay at Bua Ban North

Coastal Strikes Oil Pay at Bua Ban North

Monday, April 11, 2011
Coastal Energy Co.

Coastal announced the successful results of the Bua Ban North A-03 exploration well.

The Bua Ban North A-03 well was drilled to 5,346 feet TVD and made a discovery in the Miocene interval. The well encountered 125 feet of net pay with 28% average porosity. The A-03 tested a fault block which is south of and deeper than the Miocene discoveries in the A-01 and A-04 wells. The Company estimates that this fault block contains approximately 20 million barrels of oil in place.

The Company plans to suspend the well and then complete it with a workover rig once the MOPU arrives on location in mid-May to begin production testing.

Randy Bartley, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Energy, commented, "The A-03 well not only significantly increases the oil in place at Bua Ban North A, but reinforces the prospectivity of this part of the basin. Coastal has now discovered an estimated 55 million barrels of oil in place with four wells in less than two months.

"We are moving the rig to Bua Ban North B while the MOPU is being mobilized to Bua Ban North A. Not only will we begin testing further Miocene targets, but we will also test the highly prospective Oligocene and Eocene targets in the northern part of the basin. During this time, we will also be able to fully evaluate the data from the first four Bua Ban North A wells and formulate a larger scale field development plan, including horizontal wells."

Lundin Strikes Oil at Tellus Prospect

Lundin Strikes Oil at Tellus Prospect

Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Lundin Petroleum AB

Lundin operator of production license 338, has completed well 16/1-15 on the Tellus prospect as an oil discovery, using semisub Bredford Dolphin. The well has been successfully tested and a comprehensive logging and coring program has been acquired. The well will now be sidetracked to appraise the Tellus discovery to ensure it will be included in the Luno development program.

Oil was proven in a 50 meter column including a 3 meter thick lower Cretaceous sandstone with excellent reservoir quality overlying porous, fractured basement. The oil is of the same type as found in Luno, and the Tellus discovery is most likely a northern extension of the Luno field.

Two successful reservoir tests have been completed. The first test was perforated in a fractured basement interval and produced 650 BOPD, through a 40/64" choke. This is the first successful full scale basement test on the Norwegian continental shelf. The second test was perforated in the overlying sandstone interval and produced 3900 BOPD through a 40/64" choke. This test showed very good flow properties and good pressure support.
An estimate of the discovered resources will be announced once the sidetrack has been completed.

Lundin Petroleum is the operator of PL338 with 50 percent interest. Partners are Wintershall Norge ASA with 30 percent and RWE Dea Norge AS with 20 percent interest.

Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO of Lundin Petroleum commented, "We are very pleased with this latest discovery which has proven a likely extension of the Luno field. The location of the Tellus discovery to the Luno field will allow us to fast track the development of Tellus by including it into the Luno development plan.The basement discovery is also material and has the potential to open further prospectivity in the Greater Luno area and provides us with excellent data in relation to the earlier Luno South basement discovery."