Good news has been flowing from Algeria in the past months. The country has announced plans to offer 12 blocks in an upcoming licensing round. Significantly, two offshore blocks will be included, the first time such blocks have been offered to international bidders. In exploration activity in the Berkine Basin, First Calgary Petroleums Ltd. says that it has discovered gross proved, possible and probable natural gas reserves totaling 5.7 trillion cubic feet on its Menzel Ledjmet structure on Ledjmet Block 405b. The company's first well, the MLE #2, encountered 147 meters of pay and tested at a cumulative rate of 189 million cu. ft. of gas per day from six intervals. The company has spudded the MLE #3 and plans to drill two additional appraisal wells on the feature, which is southwest of Anadarko Petroleum's Hassi Berkine Field. Additionally, the Algerian government has approved field development for four discoveries on Berkine Basin Block 208. The fields, owned by Anadarko, Maersk Olie, ENI and Sonatrach are the El Merk North, El Merk East, El Merk and El Kheit Et Tesseka. More than 100 wells will be required to develop the fields. And, these companies just marked the production of 200 million barrels of oil from the Hassi Berkine South and Ourhoud facilities. The Berkine Basin production, from Block 404, was put onstream five years ago. -Peggy Williams 1 Canada Canadian Superior Energy Inc., Calgary, and El Paso Corp., Houston, plan to drill a 5,600-meter well on Exploration License 2409 offshore Nova Scotia later this year. The block, known as Mariner, is in the area of developed production near Sable Island and is offset by Venture Field, which contains 1.6 trillion cu. ft. of gas. The well will test one of three large structures that the partners have identified on the block. In other activity, Imperial Oil plans to spud a wildcat on EL 2378. The deepwater Balvenie prospect will be drilled this summer. 2 Canada Petro-Canada reports that its Tuckamore B-27, a deepwater exploration well in the southern Flemish Pass region offshore Newfoundland, was drilled and abandoned. Petro-Canada operated the Tuckamore well, located on Exploration License 1051; its partners were EnCana Corp. and Norsk Hydro. 3 Canada The Athabasca oil-sands project in east-central Alberta is currently averaging production of 60,000 bbl. of synthetic crude per day. Levels are expected to reach 155,000 bbl. per day in the third quarter, says operator Shell Canada. The project, the first fully integrated oil sands project in 25 years, is a joint venture of Shell, with a 60% interest, Chevron Canada Ltd., with 20%, and Western Oil Sands LP, with 20%. 4 Brazil Petrobras says that three new deepwater oil finds in exploration block BC-60, off the state of Espirito Santo, contain combined reserves of about 500 million bbl. of oil. The discoveries were made at the #1-ESS-119, #1-ESS-122 and #1-ESS-125 wells, drilled in water depths between 1,473 and 1,535 meters. The finds are near Jubarte and Cachalote fields, and bring the total discoveries on the block to 2.1 billion bbl. of oil. 5 Argentina A new pool discovery has been tested by Repsol-YPF in the northern Neuquen Basin. The Loma Alta #XP-9, in the Valle del Rio Grande Block in Loma Alta Sur Field, was drilled to a total depth of 3,217 meters. It flowed 951 bbl. of oil, 1.7 million cu. ft. of gas and 405 bbl. of water per day from the Lower Cretaceous Chachao Formation at 2,530-40 meters, says IHS Energy. In separate activity in the same basin, Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources has drilled a fourth successful outpost in the Al Sur de la Dorsal/4 Block. The Loma Pedregosa #A-1008 flowed 384 bbl. of oil and 38 bbl. of water per day from perforations in the Lotena Formation between 1,391-1,426 meters. The 1,602-meter well was drilled about two kilometers northeast of Pioneer's Loma Pedregosa #A-1005 well, completed early this year for 157 bbl. of oil per day. Prior to Pioneer's current drilling program, Loma Pedregosa was a one-well field. 6 Faroe Islands ENI is planning to spud a deepwater test on License 002. Well #6004/17-1 will test the Marimas prospect, in 1,048 meters of water. Faroe Petroleum is a 25% partner in the well, which will be drilled to 4,250 meters. 7 Libya Repsol-YPF and OMV have been awarded exploration rights to 76,700 square kilometers by the National Oil Corp. of Libya. The blocks comprising Exploration Package 1 are located one each in the Murzuk and Sirte basins; two in the Kufra Basin; and two offshore. The companies committed to a $90-million exploration program over a six-year period. They will drill 12 exploratory wells and acquire 6,500 kilometers of seismic data. Repsol-YPF, based in Spain, is operator of the package, and holds a 60% working interest. Austrian firm OMV has the remaining 40%. In a separate agreement, RWE Dea signed a production-sharing agreement with NOC Libya, covering 32,270 square kilometers in six areas. Three of the blocks are in the Sirte Basin, two are in the el-Batnan area, and one is in the Kufra Basin. The German company will acquire 5,000 kilometers of seismic data and drill 10 exploratory wells. Total capex is estimated at $56 million. 8 Egypt BP has made an 80-million-bbl. oil discovery in the Nubia at its Saqqara well, on the LL87 exploration license in the Gulf of Suez. The operator says the find is the largest in the Gulf in 14 years. Estimates are that the field could produce 40,000 to 50,000 bbl. per day. The Saqqara well was drilled two kilometers west of the 2001 Edfu Nubia discovery and seven kilometers west of the facilities at El Morgan Field. 9 Syria Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy reports that it has signed a production-sharing contract in northeastern Syria. The company will operate and hold an 80% participating interest in Block 26; its partner Gulfsands Petroleum Ltd. will have the remaining 20% interest. The companies will invest $17 million in activities on the 11,000-square-kilometer block during the initial four-year term of the contract. 10 Thailand Amerada Hess Corp. says its Phu Horm-#3 appraisal well, drilled on Block E5N in northeastern Thailand's Unon Thani province, has encountered natural gas. The company is currently testing the well. Amerada Hess and APICO LLC, a U.S.-based company, each have a 40% interest in the block. PTT Exploration & Production, Thailand's national firm, has 20%. 11 China ConocoPhillips has made two discoveries in its Bozhong 11/05 Block in Bohai Bay, both in the Lower Minghuazhen and Guantao sandstones. The PL #19-9-1, drilled two miles east of PL 19-3 Field, encountered 31 meters of net hydrocarbon pay. The PL #13-1-1 well, drilled 18 miles north of the field, encountered approximately 40 meters of net hydrocarbon pay. The company says the #19-9-1 discovery will be part of the PL 19-3 Phase II development; it plans to drill additional wells to appraise the #13-1-1 find. To date, the company has made seven discoveries on the 2.3-million-acre Bozhong 11/05, in which it owns a 100% working interest. CNOOC Ltd. has the option to participate for 51% in the development of any discoveries, and has exercised that option in PL 19-3 Field. Phase I began producing oil in December 2002, and PL 19-3 is currently making around 30,000 bbl. per day. 12 Timor Sea ConocoPhillips plans to proceed with the LNG portion of its Bayu-Undan development in the Timor Sea. The $1.5-billion project will pipe gas from Bayu and Undan fields through a 500-kilometer line to an LNG plant in Darwin, Australia. The plant will produce 3 million metric tons of LNG a year, which will be sold to Japanese buyers. Shipments are scheduled to begin in 2006. The partners are already proceeding with a separate project to produce natural gas liquids from the fields. Bayu-Undan, which lies in 80 meters of water, is estimated to contain 3.4 trillion cu. ft. of gas and 400 million bbl. of liquids. The project is in the Joint Petroleum Development Area that is shared 90% by East Timor and 10% by Australia. ConocoPhillips operates Bayu-Undan and owns a 64.14% working interest; Santos Ltd. holds 11.83%; ENI has 12.32%; and Inpex Corp., 11.71%. 13 Australia Progress is being made on the Otway Gas Project in southeast Australia's offshore Otway Basin. The partners in the venture are proceeding with engineering studies and project planning. The project will develop Geographe and Thylacine fields, which are 55 to 70 kilometers offshore Port Campbell. The plan currently calls for a platform and five production wells at Thylacine and a subsea manifold and three production wells at Geographe Field. Gas from the wells will be processed onshore. Woodside Petroleum operates the Otway Gas Project and owns a 51.55% interest; Origin Energy Resources Ltd. owns 29.75%; Benaris International NV has 12.7%; and CalEnergy Gas (Australia) Ltd., 6%. First production is anticipated in 2006.