Eastern African Energy Riches Attract Interest

- Eastern African Energy Riches Attract Interest

Wednesday, September 07, 2011
OilPrice.com
by Joao Peixe

Energy deposits located in east African nations and their offshore coastlines are increasingly drawing foreign investor interest.

Recent surveys have led analysts to estimate that Mozambique has over 6 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas reserves while neighboring Tanzania's natural gas reserves could exceed 7.5 trillion cubic feet.

Petroleum Development Consultants managing director David Aron noted, "The interesting question is whether there will be a (natural gas) liquefaction plant in both Tanzania and Mozambique or whether a single shared location could be developed," adding that Mozambique's natural gas from its Pande and Temane onshore fields could be exported to neighboring South Africa while Tanzanian natural gas, produced from its offshore fields, would be used primarily for power generation, allowing it to reduce its imported energy costs, Nairobi's The East African reported.

Both Tanzania and Mozambique are currently plagued by indigenous energy shortages, which lead to electrical blackouts.

Tanzania, East Africa's second- biggest economy, before its natural gas fields begin production, is seeking to relieve its electricity shortages in the interim by promoting geothermal energy. Tanzanian Energy and Minerals Deputy Minister Adam Malima said, "We are moving toward more environmentally friendly sources of energy as our demand increases. We are looking to the private sector to see if there is interest in geothermal development."

(Joao Peixe is Deputy Editor of OilPrice.com. The original article appears here.)

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Premier Oil Granted Drilling Permit in North Sea

- Premier Oil Granted Drilling Permit in North Sea

Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Premier Oil Norge AS a drilling permit for well 9/1-1 S.

Well 9/1-1 S will be drilled from the Bredford Dolphin drilling facility in position 57°35'37.02"N and 4°00'56.05"E.

The drilling program for well 9/1-1 S concerns the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 406. Premier Oil Norge AS is the operator with a 40 percent ownership interest. The other licensees are Skeie Energy AS with 40 percent and Spring Energy Exploration AS with 20 percent. Production license 406 was awarded in APA 2006.

The area in this production license is located in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It consists of parts of blocks 8/3, 9/1, 17/12, 18/10 and 18/11. Well 9/1-1 S is the first exploration well to be drilled in this production license.

The drilling permit is contingent upon the operator securing all permits and consents required by other authorities before commencing the drilling activity.

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Coastal's Bua Ban North A-05 Encounters Net Pay

- Coastal Bua Ban North A-05 Encounters Net Pay

Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Coastal Energy Co.

Coastal Energy announced the successful results of the Bua Ban North A-05 well and provides an operations update.

The Bua Ban North A-05 well was drilled to a total depth of 5,650 feet TVD. The well encountered 81 feet of gross sand and 35 feet of net pay in the Miocene reservoir with 27 percent average porosity. The well tested the Miocene reservoir on the eastern flank of the Bua Ban North A field. The oil water contact in the well was seen at 3,770 feet. The results of the A-05 well add an additional 1,200 acres to the structural closure area. The Company is planning to drill five to six additional evaluation wells at Bua Ban North before moving the rig to G5/50.

The Bua Ban North B-02, B-03 and B-04 wells have all been completed and tied into the production facilities. The aggregate production rate from Bua Ban North B is approximately 8,200 bopd. Average production at Songkhla A is approximately 4,000 bopd, with production currently being constrained due to a temperature issue. The Company is installing additional cooling units to remedy this issue and restore production to 6,500 bopd. The installation is expected to be complete in approximately two weeks.

Aggregate offshore oil production is averaging 13,700 bopd, and total Company production is averaging 15,800 boepd.

Randy Bartley, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Energy, commented, "We are very pleased with the results of the Bua Ban North A-05 well. This well was drilled as far north as possible to test the presence of hydrocarbons between Bua Ban North A & B. We have several locations identified which are further south and up to 200 feet structurally higher which we plan to test with the upcoming wells.

"Total production from Bua Ban North B has come in above our expectations and the wells continue to perform better than expected. We are working to resolve mechanical production issues at Songkhla and expect to restore production to previous levels in the coming weeks.

"We expect production facilities to be on location at Bua Ban North A in late October."

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Brinx, Partners Complete Development Oil Well in Oklahoma

- Brinx, Partners Complete Development Oil Well in Oklahoma

Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Brinx Resources Ltd.

Brinx Resources and its partners have completed a new development oil well offsetting the highly successful 2008-3-5 well in southern Oklahoma. Completion of the new 2008-3-5A oil well took place on September 1, 2011.

The 2008-3-5A well immediately started flowing after it was perforated and began producing at a rate of 298 barrels of oil per day and an unmeasured quantity of natural gas. Since completion, the well has been producing at rates between 240 and 300 barrels of oil per day along with some natural gas. Electric log analysis indicates that several additional pay zones still exist above the completed section that will be tested at a later date.

The original 2008-3-5 well began production in May of 2009. As of June 1, 2011, that well had produced over 155,000 barrels of oil and 16.5 million cubic feet of natural gas from a single pay zone. The 2008-3-5 well continues to produce at a stabilized rate of over 100 barrels of oil per day. Engineers have estimated that the upper pay zones could contain over 180,000 additional barrels of oil to be recovered from the 2008-3-5A development well.

Brinx anticipates that it will take part in several additional development well drilling opportunities in Oklahoma in the near future. Also in Oklahoma, the Company expects to participate in a minimum of ten new exploration and development drill programs based on its recently completed 130 square mile 3-D seismic program.

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