Angola should soon join the elite ranks of countries capable of producing a million barrels of oil per day. The West African nation currently pumps 750,000 barrels per day; by 2005 it expects to be producing 1.3 million per day. On Block 15, operator Exxon Mobil Corp. reports a ninth deepwater oil discovery. The Batuque-1, drilled in 2,400 feet of water to a depth of 12,400 feet, tested 5,200 barrels per day. Recoverable reserves on the block now exceed 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The first of a slew of Block 15 developments is scheduled to begin production in 2004. Saxi and Mondo fields were discovered in 2000; Chocalho and Xikomba, in 1999; and Hungo, Kissanje, Marimba and Dikanza, in 1998. Partners in Block 15 are Exxon Mobil, with a 40% interest; BP, with 26.67%; Agip, with 20%; and Statoil, with 13.33%. Separately, operator BP and its equal partner Shell have made another apparent discovery, called Cromio, in deepwater Block 18. If confirmed, Cromio would be the fifth find in just five wells drilled on the block. A sixth well, Cobalto, is currently being drilled. The Platina, Plutonia, Paladio and Galio accumulations have been previously announced, and BP has estimated that three of those fields contain combined reserves of at least 750 million barrels. Block 18 looks to become the fourth Angolan deepwater block bearing reserves of more than a billion barrels of oil. 1 Canada BP , Chevron Corp. and Burlington Resources Inc. have formed several ventures to explore the Mackenzie Delta region. Under one arrangement, Chevron and BP will jointly explore Inuvik Blocks 1 and 2, which Chevron acquired last year at a land sale held by Inuvialuit Regional Corp. The companies will each have 50% interests in the parcels, covering 471,214 acres, and Inuvialuit may exercise an option to take a 25% working interest in any discovery. In a separate deal, BP and Chevron will acquire interests in 360,000 acres of lands acquired by Burlington at the Beaufort Sea/Mackenzie Delta federal land sale in September 1999. In addition, the three companies already each hold a 33.33% interest in the 181,895-acre EL 405 Block, which they acquired in August. The companies plan to shoot seismic this winter and drill a well on the Burlington blocks in 2001-02. 2 Canada Houston-based Pogo Producing Co. has drilled and tested two exploratory wells in Alberta. The Pogo Garrington #15-21-37-5-W5 tested at a daily rate of 11 million cu. ft. of gas and 250 bbl. of condensate from an interval between 8,619-33 ft. in the Mississippian Elkton. An additional 13 net ft. of natural gas pay is behind pipe in the Cretaceous Glauconitic formation, notes Pogo, operator and owner of a 100% interest in the discovery. Nearby, the Pogo Garrington #5-33-37-W5 wildcat tested at a daily rate of 4.2 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,150 bbl. of condensate per day from 11,125-81 ft. in the Devonian Duvernay. The Nisku formation also contains 23 net ft. of additional gas pay, and Pogo plans to flow test that interval shortly. Pogo operates the well and owns a 25% working interest, PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. owns a 50% interest, and Compton Petroleum Corp. holds 25%. 3 U.K. North Sea Conoco Inc. reports that it has successfully completed two appraisal wells in the area around Britannia Field. Kappa Field, discovered late in 1999 on blocks 15/29B and 21/4a-North, was confirmed in November by appraisal well 15/29b-13. That well encountered 135 ft. of hydrocarbons, and flowed at a restricted rate of 1,400 bbl. per day from a 25-ft. interval. Kappa lies 16 miles from the Britannia production platform. A separate gas discovery, made in 1985 in Block 21/3a, was also confirmed by a recent appraisal well. The 21/3a-7 well encountered a 120-ft. gas column, and a drillstem test over an 87-ft. interval flowed at a rate of 20 million cu. ft. of gas per day. The gas accumulation lies 26 miles from Britannia. Conoco has 80% of Block 15/29b, 86% of Block 21/4a-North, and 75% of Block 21/3a. Chevron is the other partner in the licenses. 4 Norway Operator Agip has finished testing its Gamma well in the Barents Sea, the second apparent discovery made in the area by the Italian firm. The 2,979-meter well was drilled in 190 meters of water on Block 7019/1 in License PL-201. Early Cretaceous and Jurassic sandstones were cored and tested, and found to be gas-bearing. Agip owns a 35% interest in the venture; its partners are Enterprise Oil Plc , 25%, Statoil , 25%, and Fortum , 15%. Late last year, Agip found oil at its 7122/7-1 well in License PL-220, some 150 kilometers northeast of the Gamma test. 5 Morocco Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee has acquired a third-interest in the 3-million-acre Cap Draa Haute Mer exploration licenses offshore Morocco. The blocks, which have eight-year terms, lie in water depths of 650 to 6,500 ft., approximately 30 miles off the coast. Its partners in the project are operator Enterprise Oil Plc , 40%, and Energy Africa Ltd. , 26.67%. The group will acquire 3-D seismic data this year, and expects to drill within three years. Office National de Recherches et D'Exploitations Petrolieres (Onarep), the Moroccan state oil company, has the right to acquire a 25% interest in the licenses if a commercial field is found. 6 Libya Repsol YPF SA has discovered oil on the 4,300-square-mile Block NC-186 in the Sahara Desert, about 800 kilometers south of Tripoli. The A-1 well, the first test drilled on the block, flowed 2,500 bbl. per day of 41-gravity oil. Repsol YPF, OMV AG, TotalFinaElf SA and Saga Petroleum comprise a consortium that operates the NC-186, NC-187 and NC-190 blocks. 7 Sudan An international group plans three new exploration wells for the Heglig area of Sudan. The 4.9-million-hectare Heglig project currently produces about 200,000 bbl. of oil per day, and holds proven reserves of 850 million bbl. Partners are Canadian firm Talisman Energy Inc. , Malaysian state firm Petronas, China National Petroleum Corp. and the Sudan government. The consortium will drill the Zafir-1 well in Block 2a and the Timor-1 and Shalongo-1 wells in Block 4 of its concession. All three tests will target structures capable of containing reserves of about 40- to 50 million bbl. of oil. 8 Benin Kerr-McGee Corp. has acquired 100% working interest in the 2.5-million-acre Block 4 offshore Benin, in some 300 to 10,000 ft. of water. The company notes that the Block 4 license covers all of Benin's deepwater area. 9 Equatorial Guinea Operator CMS Oil & Gas Co. says that it has completed the Alba #8 well in Alba Field, 18 miles offshore. The well tested at a flow rate of 27.5 million cu. ft. of gas and 2,040 bbl. of condensate per day. The #8 is the final well in a development project that increased the field's production capacity to 225 million cu. ft. per day. Approximately 125 million cu. ft. per day will supply a methanol plant currently under construction on Bioko Island; approximately 10 million cu. ft. per day will be used for onshore operations; and the remainder will be reinjected offshore. Participants in Alba Field are CMS, with 52.38% interest; Samedan of North Africa Inc. , a subsidiary of Noble Affiliates , 33.75%; Globex International, 10.87%; and the government of Equatorial Guinea, 3%. 10 India London-based Cairn Energy Plc has completed testing on its CB-A-2 appraisal well on Block CB-OS/2, offshore Gujarat, West India. The CB-A-2 encountered multiple pay zones between 750 and 1,250 meters, and four zones were tested with a cumulative flow of 103.3 million cu. ft. per day. A thin interval of oil-bearing reservoir was also encountered but not tested, confirming an oil leg across the structure. The well was a 4.5-kilometer step-out from Lakshmi Field; Cairn now estimates that the field contains proven and probable gas reserves of 300- to 400 billion cu. ft. The company plans to shoot a 3-D seismic survey across the field area and to drill an exploration well on Block CB-OS/2, about 20 kilometers to the north. 11 Indonesia U.K. firm Dana Petroleum says that its Sidayu-1 exploration well flowed 1,450 bbl. of oil per day during testing. The 5,426-ft. Sidayu-1, drilled on the Pangkah Block offshore East Java, encountered a 250-ft.-thick oil-bearing interval in the Kujung limestone. The well lies some seven kilometers northeast of the Ujung Pangkah-1 discovery made in November 1998. Partners in the project are operator Premier Oil , with a 40% interest; Amerada Hess , 36%; Gulf Resources , 12%; and Dana Petroleum, 12%. 12 Australia Kerr-McGee Corp. has completed the 5,795-ft. Rubicon #1, its second well on Block WA 278-P in the Timor Sea. The company is evaluating approximately 100 gross ft. of hydrocarbon pay indicated by logs on the test, which was drilled in 235 ft. of water. Kerr-McGee's first well on the block, the Prometheus #1, encountered approximately 180 net ft. of gas-bearing reservoir in Permian sandstones. Kerr-McGee operates WA 278-P and holds a 39% interest; PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. , 39%; Tap Oil Ltd. Co. , 12%; and SK Corp. , 10%. Kerr-McGee also operates and owns 39% in adjacent blocks WA 276-P and WA 277-P. 13 Australia Melbourne-based Woodside Petroleum Ltd. says that the Gaea-1 exploration well offshore Western Australia has apparently discovered two gas accumulations. Drilling data indicates that the well intersected a 22-meter gas column and a 95-meter gas column. Woodside, BHP Ltd. , Chevron Corp. , Shell and Japan Australia LNG each own a fifth-interest in Gaea-1. The partners have decided to continue drilling past the initial projected total depth of 3,950 meters until a gas/water contact is intersected.