US

A Marathon Oil Corp. Upper Three Forks discovery initially flowed 5,694 bbl of oil, 192,555 cu. m (6.8 MMcf) of gas and 6,497 bbl of water per day. According to IHS Markit, the Bailey Field well, Sundby 24-11TFH, is in Section 14-146n-94w of Dunn County, N.D. It is producing from a lateral extending from 3,399 m (11,151 ft) northward to 6,497 m (21,315 ft), with a true vertical depth of 3,290 m (10,793 ft), and bottomed in Section 2-146n-94w. The venture was tested on a 1-in. choke after 45-stage fracturing between 3,414 m and 6,456 m (11,200 ft and 21,180 ft) with a flowing casing pressure of 1,800 psi.

Colombia

Parex Resources announced an oil discovery at exploration well Andina-1 on the Capachos Block in Colombia’s Llanos Basin. The well encountered the primary Guadalupe Formation reservoir at 5,090 m (16,700 ft) and was drilled to 5,334 m (17,500 ft) to evaluate a deeper prospective target in Une. Logging results from the well indicated potential hydrocarbon-bearing zones in Mirador, Guadalupe and Une. Logs from Guadalupe suggested the presence of a high-quality reservoir, similar to a previous completion at the Capachos-2 well. The Une was completed and production-tested flowing 5,454 bbl of oil, 227 bbl of water and 549,347 cu. m (19.4 MMcf) of gas. Bottomhole pressure recorders in the well indicated a stable producing drawdown of 12% and a pressure buildup test will be conducted at the end of the test.

Guyana

Another discovery was announced by Exxon Mobil Corp. in the offshore Guyana Stabroek Block. The Hammerhead-1 well encountered 60 m (197 ft) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone. The latest well is about 14 km (9 miles) south of the Liza-1 well and was drilled to 4,225 m (13,861.5 ft) and is in 1,150 m (3,773 ft) of water. According to the company, there is potential for additional production from undrilled targets, and the company plans additional exploration and appraisal drilling. A second exploration vessel will begin drilling at the Pluma prospect, which is about 27 km (17 miles) north of the discovery at the Turbot-1 well.

Gambia

FAR Ltd. has selected its drillsite for the Samo-1 offshore exploration well in its operated Block A2 in the Atlantic. The prospect lies immediately to the south and along trend from the SNE oil field in Senegal in the highly prospective Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau-Conakry Basin. Area water depth is 1,017 m (3,337 ft), and it will be the first well drilled offshore Gambia since the late 1970s. The Samo prospect has two main targets: an upper reservoir interval that contained liquid-rich gas at SNE and a lower reservoir interval that was oil-bearing at SNE. The two target reservoir intervals are assessed to have a combined prospective resource of 825 MMbbl of oil (best estimate, unrisked).

UK

UK Oil & Gas announced results from a flow test at the Kimmeridge Horse Hill-1, a Portland oil discovery well, in petroleum exploration and development license 137. The venture was targeting 35 m (114 ft) of net oil pay. During the test it flowed approximately 362 bbl/d of oil. The company plans to drill either an appraisal sidetrack at Horse Hill-1z or new well, Horse Hill-2, at the Weald Basin in Surrey County, U.K.

North Sea

Siccar Point Energy completed well testing on appraisal well 204/10a-5 in the Cambo Field, northwest of the Shetland Islands in the North Sea. A vertical pilot hole confirmed a 30-m (100-ft) oil column, and it was about 18 m (58 ft) higher than anticipated. A 491-m (1,612-ft) horizontal section was then drilled to conduct an extended well test, and a full evaluation of the test results, including a pressure buildup test, are planned. Well logs and coring are confirming a high-quality multi-Darcy reservoir with 23-degree-gravity oil. The results will be incorporated into the Cambo Field development plan, and the well will be suspended for use as a future development well.

Norway

Lundin Petroleum AB completed appraisal well production testing at the 16/1-28S well in the Rolvsnes discovery in production license (PL) 338C on the Utsira High in the Norwegian North Sea. A horizontal well was drilled and tested flowing at a constrained production rate of 7,000 bbl/d of oil. The combined Rolvsnes and Goddo prospective area is estimated to contain gross potential resources of more than 250 MMboe. The appraisal well is about 3 km (2 miles) from the Edvard Grieg platform and is the third well on the Rolvsnes oil discovery. Additional testing is planned as well as an additional exploration well at the Goddo prospect in PL815.

Gabon

Panoro Energy ASA has announced an oil discovery at the Ruche North East Marin-1 well in offshore Gabon’s Dussafu Marin production-sharing contract license. The well was drilled to identify additional oil resources in the presalt Gamba and Dentale in the greater Ruche area. It was drilled to 3,400 m (11,155 ft) in 115 m (377 ft) of water. Log evaluation, pressure data and fluid samples indicate that approximately 15 m (49 ft) of good quality oil pay was encountered in Gamba and 25 m (82 ft) in stacked reservoirs within Dentale. Additional testing is planned, including a sidetrack to appraise Dentale sands in an updip location and the lateral extent of the Gamba reservoir.

Egypt

Shell Oil Co. and the Petronas Carigali plan to drill an eight-well program in the West Nile Delta prospect in the Mediterranean Sea. The West Nile Delta Deep Marine Phase 9B program is set for completion in late 2019. The production anticipated by Shell is about 11.3 Bcm/d (400 MMcf/d) of gas, but Shell did not disclose the volume of gas to be produced from the first two wells to be drilled. The West Nile Delta Deep Marine development is part of Egypt’s drive to achieve gas self-sufficiency before year-end 2018 and stop the importation of LNG.

Cyprus

Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum are expecting to receive permission from the government of Cyprus to return to their exploration operation in Block 10, despite warnings from Turkey that such activity infringes on the rights of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. According to the Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheros, the partners plan to drill the initial exploration well on the block this year at a site far from the disputed area. The first well, Delphini-1, will be followed by wells at the Antheia and Glafkos prospects.

Tanzania

Aminex Plc has scheduled drilling at exploration well Chikumbi-1 in the Ruvuma Block onshore Tanzania. The well is located updip from both the Ntorya-1 discovery well, which tested flowing 566,337 cu. m/d (20 MMcf/d) of gas and 139 bbl/d of condensate, and from Ntorya-2, which tested at a stabilized rate of approximately 481,386 cu. m/d (17 MMcf/d) of gas. The exploratory well is expected to delineate the Ntorya gas field in a thicker section of the Cretaceous reservoir system and to evaluate a potential deeper exploration target in Jurassic.

Offshore