Worldwide offshore production already depends heavily on floating production units, and a recent study by Roger Read at Houston-based Simmons & Co. International predicts that their role will steadily expand. Currently, the world fleet of floating production units-operating or under construction-stands at 118. Of these, 67 are FPSOs (floating production and storage units), almost 40% of which are in the Asia/Pacific region. Offshore Brazil and West Africa offer the largest markets for new FPSOs, thanks to their jumbo field discoveries, high production rates and lack of existing infrastructure. Semisubmersible floating production units number 37, with more than half currently deployed in Brazil. Spars enjoy a much more limited appeal-only three of these systems currently operate, all in the Gulf of Mexico. Finally, tension-leg platforms, another type of floating unit, form a fleet of 11. All TLPs operate in either the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea. By 2004, Read expects 165 floating production units to be working worldwide. In water depths greater than 1,000 feet, the floating units are the production systems of choice, although subsea tiebacks and other subsea solutions offer stiff competition in areas with existing infrastructure. -Peggy Williams 1 Canada PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. says that its second appraisal well, H-08, was a successful follow-up on its Deep Panuke natural gas discovery offshore Nova Scotia. During a three-day test, the well flowed an average rate of more than 50 million cu. ft. of gas per day, the maximum capacity of the testing equipment. The well encountered net pay of 325 ft. and drilling to date has proven a gas column in the pool of at least 450 ft. The reservoir is currently estimated to extend six to eight kilometers in length. The H-08 well is about two kilometers southwest of the discovery well, the PP-3C, which indicated net pay of 225 ft. The first appraisal well, PI-1B, showed net pay of 110 ft. PanCanadian holds a 100% working interest in Deep Panuke. 2 Canada Total bids were C$466 million on the Northern Oil & Gas Directorate's August offering of 1.9 million federal acres in the Mackenzie Delta/Beaufort Sea area in the Canadian Arctic. Anderson Resources Ltd. and Petro-Canada jointly acquired two exploration licenses, EL405 and EL406, in the Mackenzie Delta totaling 369,000 acres for commitments of C$128.2 million. Bidding alone, Anderson also won a 100% interest in four exploration licenses-EL408, EL409, EL410 and EL411-totaling 837,000 acres in the shallow water Beaufort Sea area. The company promised total work expenditures of C$224.1 million on the blocks. A partnership consisting of BP Canada, Burlington Resources and Chevron Canada pledged C$76.6 million on EL404. Shell Canada acquired EL403 for a C$35-million commitment and Anadarko Canada paid C$2.4 million for parcel EL407. 3 Colombia Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. has agreed to explore for oil and gas on two separate concessions. The Fusa area covers 101,554 hectares of the central Cundinamarca province, which surrounds Bogota. The Villarrica block covers 108,860 hectares in Cundinamarca, Tolima and Huila provinces. During a six-year exploration phase, the contracts call for the company to acquire 2-D seismic, to reprocess and interpret existing information, and to drill exploratory wells. 4 Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands government has awarded seven licenses to five groups of oil companies. Four licenses in the southeastern part of the area have six-year terms and well commitments, while three other licenses were granted carrying nine-year terms and no well commitments. Amerada Hess, BP, Agip, Statoil, Phillips Petroleum, Enterprise Oil and Veba Oil all won interests in various six-year blocks, which are considered the most prospective. 5 Gabon Houston-based Burlington Resources Inc. has acquired a 25% interest in the Agip-operated M'Polo, Chaillu and Meboun offshore blocks, covering 5.3 million acres. A 1,200-square-mile seismic shoot has been completed over the blocks and two wells are planned for next year. The concession calls for six wells to be drilled by midyear 2003, two wells on each block. 6 Angola Exxon Mobil Corp. has found more oil in its sterling Block 15. The Saxi-1 was drilled in 680 meters of water and tested at 5,500 bbl. a day of 36-degree oil. The find is the eighth on the offshore block, following the Mondo, Hungo, Kissanje, Marimba, Dikanza, Chocalho and Xikomba discoveries. Exxon Mobil operates Block 15 and holds a 40% interest, BP has 26.67%, Agip has 20% and Statoil, 13.33%. 7 Israel Operator Isramco Inc. reports that its Nir-1 well in the Med Ashdod license found a total gross gas column of 300 meters. The well was drilled in 119 meters of water approximately 17 kilometers from the coast of Ashquelon and 4 kilometers from the recent Mari discoveries. A 53-meter interval tested at rates of up to 15 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Major interest holders in Nir-1 are BG International Ltd., with 40%; Isramco Negev 2 LP, with 19.13%; and Delek Drilling LP, with 21.76%. 8 Kazakhstan The Offshore Kazakhstan International Operating Co. (OKIOC) has reported success at its Kashagan East 1 well in the Kazak sector of the Caspian Sea. The 16,400-ft. well, drilled in 10 ft. of water, encountered an oil-bearing interval in Paleozoic carbonates below 13,124 ft. A test in the lower part of the interval flowed up to 3,700 bbl. of oil and 7 million cu. ft. of gas per day. OKIOC plans to drill a second well about 25 miles from the discovery later this year. Members of the OKIOC consortium are Agip, BG, BP, Exxon Mobil, Inpex, Phillips Petroleum, Shell, Statoil and TotalFina Elf. 9 Iran Agip and Petropars have jointly agreed with the National Iranian Oil Co. to develop South Pars Field in the Persian Gulf. The field is estimated to hold about 12 trillion cu. ft. of gas. Under the buy-back contract, Agip would operate South Pars during the development phase and NIOC would take over operations when production begins. The partners plan to develop the fourth and fifth phases of the gas field. Work will include installing two platforms, drilling 12 wells from each platform, and laying two 62-mile pipelines. Agip will have a 60% share of the project, which is scheduled to come on stream in 2005. 10 Iran The National Iranian Oil Co. says that it has discovered two major oil and gas fields. Homa Field, in the southern province of Fars on the Persian Gulf, contains recoverable reserves of 4.7 trillion cu. ft. of gas and 58 million bbl. of liquids. Homa, which is a sweet-gas accumulation, is close to the recently discovered Tabnak Field. The other giant find is Zireh Field, in the Gulf province of Bushehr. Zireh contains estimated reserves of 1 billion bbl. of oil and 800 billion cu. ft. of gas. 11 Australia Australian firm Woodside Petroleum Ltd. says that its 4,008-meter Brecknock South 1 encountered a gross 167-meter hydrocarbon column. The well was drilled in the Browse Basin off the coast of Western Australia in the Brecknock and Scott Reef fields area. Those accumulations are currently estimated to contain 18.4 trillion cu. ft. of dry gas and 228 million bbl. of condensate. Woodside has a 50% stake in Brecknock and Scott Reef; BP and Chevron Corp. each hold 16.7% interests; and BHP and Royal Dutch/Shell each hold 8.3%. 12 Australia Local units of Royal Dutch/Shell, Kerr McGee Corp., Texaco Inc. and BHP have been awarded offshore exploration blocks by Western Australia. The work programs totaled A$270 million for seven offshore blocks, in the Carnarvon and Exmouth basins. Shell proposed an A$37-million works program for W99-33 and an A$27-million program for W99-34; BHP and Kerr-McGee bid A$34.1 million for Block W99-1 and A$35.7 million for W99-5. Blocks W99-2, W99-7 and W99-4 were awarded to a consortium of BHP, Texaco and Kerr-McGee with programs of A$64 million, A$35.6 million, and A$36.9 million, respectively. An eighth block, W99-11, was awarded to Antrim Energy Inc. and Rawson Resources for a work program totaling A$12.5 million. 13 Australia Operator Apache Corp. has discovered gas and condensate in the Linda-1, 10.8 miles northeast of Varanus Island in the offshore Carnarvon Basin, says 12.2% interest owner Tap Oil NL. The Linda-1 encountered a 91-meter hydrocarbon column between 2,659 and 2,750 meters with excellent reservoir quality. The well flowed 15.3 million cu. ft. of gas and 507 bbl. of condensate per day on an initial test in the upper 53 meters of this column. The well is the first drilled on a new play concept in the Biggada sandstones, says Tap, and numerous follow up structures exist. The partners plan to drill the Linda-2 appraisal well immediately. Apache holds a 68.5% interest in the Harriet joint venture, on Permit TL/1, and Kufpec Australia Pty. Ltd. holds 19.2%.