Even very mature basins can still hide pleasant surprises. Calgary-based explorer PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. says its Buzzard find, 100 kilometers east of Aberdeen on License P986 in the U.K. sector of the central North Sea, has the potential to be a world-class hydrocarbon accumulation. A sidetrack to its original well on the prospect encountered the same high-quality, hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir sands as the discovery, the company reports. The initial well encountered more than 250 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone with an average porosity of 24% and permeability of up to three darcies. The discovery, drilled in 320 feet of water, flowed at the rate of 6,547 barrels of oil and 970,000 cubic feet of gas per day on a 36/64-inch choke. The sidetrack, which encountered the reservoir 4,400 feet to the east of the discovery well, has extended the oil column of the discovery to at least 750 feet. The two wells have established recoverable oil of 200- to 300 million barrels in a part of the Buzzard structure. PanCanadian plans to drill another two or three appraisal wells on the feature, which is still only partially evaluated. PanCanadian operates and holds a 45.01% interest in the license; Intrepid Energy North Sea Ltd. holds 30%; BG Group, 19.99%; and Edinburgh Oil & Gas PLC, 5%. 1 Canada Calgary-based Paramount Resources Ltd. is moving forward on development of its Cameron Hills discoveries in the Northwest Territories, initially made 20 years ago. Due primarily to distance from gathering facilities, and more recently environmental concerns by the local population, Paramount has had a long, arduous wait for production from the area. This past winter, it completion-tested five existing wells, and was suitably encouraged by test results. Once approvals are in place, it plans to drill nine wells, conduct further testing and construct a gathering system and a sour gas/oil pipeline to its Bistcho Lake plant across the border in Alberta, reports Canadian Discovery Ltd. 2 Canada Calgary-based Ventus Energy 's wholly owned subsidiary Edge Energy Inc. made two Mississippian Elkton formation subcrop gas discoveries in the Gift Lake area of north-central Alberta in January 2001, says Canadian Discovery. Edge is planning further evaluation of its 188,000-acre drilling concession beneath the Gift Lake Metis Settlement. Additional locations lie on a southeast trend from the discoveries, which have produced in excess of 2 million cu. ft. per day at a depth of 2,100 ft. Next winter's exploration program will focus on oil-prone Devonian sands at approximately 6,700 ft. 3 Canada Compton Petroleum Corp. has added 10 sections of exploration acreage on Tsuu T'ina First Nation lands, just west of Calgary in the Rocky Mountain foothills, to its holdings. Compton now controls a 74-section block, on which it plans three wells prior to year-end. During the first quarter of 2001, the firm shot a 110-kilometer 2-D seismic program. Likely targets are thrust-faulted Mississippian-aged sour gas reserves, says Canadian Discovery. Existing oil production occurs on trend to the southeast at Turner Valley, and gas to the northwest at Jumping Pound Field. 4 Canada Calgary-based Nycan Energy Corp. has drilled a new-pool discovery in the Retlaw region of southeastern Alberta. The independent drilled to the Mississippian subcrop at approximately 3,880 ft., and oil is now flowing from Lower Cretaceous or Jurassic channel sandstones. The Retlaw area will dominate Nycan's operations during the next 18 months-the company plans further tie-ins and the drilling of 10 locations on recently acquired lands. As is typical in large tracts of southeastern Alberta, the Retlaw area offers multiple objectives. 5 Ecuador EDC Ecuador Ltd. , a subsidiary of Noble Affiliates Inc. , Houston, successfully tested its Amistad-7 exploratory well on offshore Block 3 in the Gulf of Guayaquil. The well was drilled from a platform located 30 miles offshore in 134 ft. of water. It flowed at the rate of 19.4 million cu. ft. of gas per day from 172 ft. of perforations on a 32/64-in. choke at 3,208 psi of flowing tubing pressure. It logged 472 ft. of gross sand thickness in the Miocene Age Progreso formation. Block 3 covers 864,000 acres. Noble has a 100% interest in the field. 6 Dutch North Sea NAM , a 50-50 joint venture of Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon Mobil , reports that it has found a field estimated to contain 11 billion cubic meters of recoverable gas. Partners in the field, which lies about 60 kilometers northwest of the Dutch coast in Block K15, include Clam, Clyde Petroleum , Oranje-Nassau Group and Energie Beheer Nederland . The group expects to begin production by the end of 2003. The field was found with financial assistance provided by the Dutch government's small-fields development program, which subsidizes exploration of sites outside Groningen Field. 7 Tunisia Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has agreed to acquire an interest in the 1.1-million-acre Anaguid permit in the onshore Ghadames Basin. Pioneer will join Anadarko Petroleum Corp. , the operator of the permit, and Nuevo Energy Co. in jointly acquiring Coho Energy Inc. 's stake in the permit. With the acquisition from Coho of a 30% participating interest, Pioneer will bear its share of the cost of at least one exploration well, reimburse its share of 2001 seismic and geologic costs, and assume other existing obligations of Coho's interest in the permit. The next exploratory well in the Anaguid permit will target the Tagi sand play. 8 Egypt Houston-based Apache Corp. reports that it has made a discovery on its Ras El Hekma Concession in the Western Desert. The 12,700-ft. Ras El Hekma #2X tested at a rate of 2,207 bbl. of condensate and 12.4 million cu. ft. of gas per day from perforations in the Lower Cretaceous Alem El Bueib 5 sandstone between 11,740 and 11,812 ft. The discovery is less than 2.5 miles northeast of the pipeline that serves Apache's Tarek Field and gas plant. Apache operates the concession with a 90% contractor interest, and Novus owns the remaining 10%. The partners plan to drill at least two additional exploration wells on the 99,000-acre concession during the next 12 months. 9 Equatorial Guinea Noble Affiliates Inc. says that it has completed a major natural gas and condensate well in offshore Alba Field. The Alba #9 well encountered 1,000 ft. of gross sand thickness and 732 ft. of net pay, and it tested at a rate of 37.5 million cu. ft. of gas and 2,400 bbl. of condensate per day from 120 ft. of perforations. The company says the well is capable of producing 100 million cu. ft. of gas and 6,200 bbl. of condensate per day. Estimated proven and probable reserves for the field are now more than 300 million bbl. of liquids and 4.6 trillion cu. ft. of gas. 10 Angola Chevron has discovered Tombua Field, the seventh significant oil find in Angola's prolific deepwater Block 14. The discovery, drilled last month in 925 ft. of water to a depth of 10,535 ft., tested at a maximum combined flow rate of 10,022 bbl. per day of 39-degree API gravity crude from two separate zones. The discovery will be followed by geologic and engineering studies to appraise the field and assess its potential reserves. The Tombua find lies approximately 19 miles south of Kuito Field. It follows six earlier discoveries on the block: Kuito (1997), Landana, Benguela and Belize (1998), and most recently Tomboco and Lobito, discovered in 2000. Chevron operates Block 14 and holds a 31% interest; Sonangol, Agip Angola and TotalFinaElf each hold 20%; and Petrogal, 9%. 11 Kazakhstan Texaco Inc. has completed appraisal drilling of the second phase of its North Buzachi onshore field appraisal program. The decision on full field development, which could include drilling up to 600 wells in 10 years, will likely be made in the first half of 2002. North Buzachi oil field is estimated to have reserves of 1.5 billion bbl. Current production at the field is 4,000 bbl. a day, and is expected to rise to 7,000 bbl. by the end of the year. Texaco operates the field with a 65% interest; Nimir Petroleum Ltd. holds the remaining 35%. 12 Indonesia Gulf Indonesia Resources Ltd., a 72% subsidiary of Gulf Canada Resources (acquired recently by Conoco) , tested its Jenggolo-1 oil and gas discovery and Payang-1 gas discovery in the Ketapang Production Sharing Contract area, offshore East Java. The Jenggolo-1 tested at a rate of 3,600 bbl. of oil per day through a 7/8-in. choke from perforations between 6,272 and 6,300 ft. Two additional tests of perforations between 5,806 and 5,854 ft. and between 4,780 and 4,804 ft. flowed approximately 5 million cu. ft. of gas per day through a 1-in. choke and approximately 4 million cu. ft. per day through a 1/2-in. choke, respectively. The Payang-1 flowed 17 million cu. ft. per day of gas through a 1-in. choke from perforations between 4,822 and 4,854 ft. The Jenggolo and Payang wells were the third and fourth wells of a four-well exploration program for the Ketapang PSC. Gulf Indonesia operates and holds a 50% working interest in the Ketapang PSC, and Petronas Carigali , the remaining 50%.