In 2000, Corridor Resources drilled an onshore New Brunswick tight-gas-sand discovery, the McCully #1, that attracted wide industry attention, reports Calgary consulting firm Canadian Discovery Ltd. The McCully structure is a large anticlinal feature with simple four-way closure, covering an area of at least 7,400 acres. Corridor and its partner, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, have drilled four wells on the feature to date, all successful. Subsequent to the discovery, Halifax-based Corridor farmed out interests in three of its McCully-area licenses to Houston firm EOG Resources Inc. That company has completed the EOG McCully D-48, the first of three commitment wells. The exploratory test, two miles northeast of the discovery well, penetrated 66 net feet of tight, gas-bearing sands at a depth of about 8,997 feet in the Mississippian Albert formation. The well extends the McCully accumulation in a northeasterly direction. EOG will now drill a second well, the EOG/Corridor McCully H-28, approximately three miles east of the D-48. Both that well and the D-48 will be fracture-stimulated and tested in May. In related activity, the recently drilled Globex Corridor Case Settlement C-82 well was abandoned as dry. The well was an exploratory test for Globex Resources, Calgary, 14 miles west of the McCully #1. The C-82, the first deep stratigraphic test in the area, reached a total depth of 6,965 feet after encountering minor shows of natural gas. 1 Canada Calgary junior Encounter Energy Inc. has begun testing a Mississippian Debolt discovery that it drilled and cased last winter at Trutch, British Columbia. The Encounter et al. Tommy A-45-I-94-G-10 tested gas from three separate zones. Stabilized flow rates were 2.9 million cu. ft. per day for the Debolt 'A' zone; 3.5 million cu. ft. per day for the Debolt 'B' zone; and 2 million cu. ft. per day for the Debolt 'C' zone, reports Canadian Discovery Ltd. The Debolt target is relatively shallow, ranging in the area from about 4,590 to 5,575 ft. The Tommy Field area is noted for gas production from the overlying Triassic Halfway and Doig formations, and the company intends to also test the Triassic Halfway interval in its well. Encounter has a 50% interest in 7,410 acres in the area. It and its partners have licensed another exploratory well nearby at D-74-I-94-G-10, and the group plans to also shoot a seismic program. 2 Canada Anadarko Canada flow-tested a recently completed exploratory well in northeast British Columbia at 9.7 million cu. ft. per day. The Anadarko Sahtenah B-83-H-94-I-12 was drilled to a total depth of 6,455 ft. in the Middle Devonian Slave Point carbonates. The well offsets Talisman Energy's B-87-H-94-I-12 exploratory outpost well, which was drilled in 2000 and averaged about 8 million cu. ft. of gas per day from the Slave Point during the 2001 production period, reports Canadian Discovery. The Slave Point occurs at about 5,900- to 6,230 ft. in the area. Anadarko is drilling two additional exploratory wells nearby, the Altares C-A14-J-94-B-8 and Junior B-87-E-94-I-10. Anadarko's program is in sparsely drilled country just south of the main producing field areas, where the shallower Upper Devonian Jean Marie Member of the Redknife formation is the main objective. 3 Canada Calgary-based Oiltec Resources has licensed a deep exploratory well at 2-16-84-15W6 near Flatrock, British Columbia. The 11,810-ft. well, which is expected to spud shortly, targets zones in the Lower Cretaceous Gething and Cadomin formations, the Triassic Belloy formation and the Devonian Wabamun Group, all of which produce in the surrounding area. Oiltec owns a 100% interest in 1,920 acres; it identified the location with a proprietary 3-D seismic survey. If the first well is successful, the company plans two development wells. 4 Canada ChevronTexaco Corp. and its partners ExxonMobil Corp., Norsk Hydro and Petro-Canada will not develop the Hebron project, consisting of Hebron, Ben Nevis and West Ben Nevis fields, offshore Newfoundland. The companies have deemed the project, which would have been the fourth major development offshore the province, as too costly. The fields contain significant amounts of heavy-gravity crude, which would require a greater number of wells to be drilled. 5 Brazil Royal Dutch/Shell has confirmed a deepwater discovery on Block 4 in the Santos Basin. The 3-SHEL-8-RJS was drilled in 3,599 ft. of water and tested at the rate of 3,000 bbl. of 15-gravity oil per day. The well, which penetrated 318 ft. of oil-bearing, Tertiary turbidite sands, offset the 1-SHEL-4-RJS discovery. The discovery well, drilled in 5,099 ft. of water to a total depth of 13,485 ft., encountered 223 ft. of net oil pay in Tertiary sands. Reserves have been estimated at approximately 300- to 500 million bbl. of oil, but Shell has not declared the find commercial due to the low gravity of the crude. Shell and Petrobras each hold 40% in the concession, and ChevronTexaco holds 20%. 6 Nigeria Shell has made a significant find on deepwater block OPL 219, reports participant Agip. The Bolia-9 was drilled to a total depth of 12,238 ft. in 3,609 ft. of water. The exploratory test, about 70 miles offshore the Niger Delta in the Gulf of Guinea, tested at rates of around 6,000 bbl. of oil per day. Several potential pay zones were encountered. Shell operates the block and holds a 55% interest; ExxonMobil, 20%; Agip, 12.5%; and TotalFinaElf, 12.5%. 7 South Africa South Africa firm Sasol has received formal approval to explore for gas in Block 3A/4A, in the Orange Basin off the country's west coast. The block covers an area of 28,395 square kilometers in water depths ranging up to 300 meters. Sasol has already acquired a 308-square-kilometer 3-D seismic survey over part of the block. Denver independent Global Energy Holdings LLC has also received formal approval to explore Block 3B/4B. That block covers 28,839 square kilometers in 300 to 1,200 meters of water. Just across the South African border, in Namibia, Shell reports its current drilling program on offshore Kudu Field is expected to push reserves from 1.3- to 5 trillion cu. ft. of gas by this fall. Kudu Field, in Block 2814/7, is expected to go on production by 2005, with most of the gas output destined for South Africa. Shell operates Kudu and holds a 75% interest; ChevronTexaco, 15%; and Energy Africa, 10%. 8 Russia Colorado-based Teton Petroleum Co. reports that it recently drilled two wells in Western Siberia and is currently drilling two additional wells. Teton owns a 35% interest in Goloil, which is developing the Eguryak license, 10 miles north of Samotlor Field. Teton's net production from the field is 750 bbl. of oil per day; its net interest, based on an independent reserve audit, is 43 million proven bbl. of recoverable oil. 9 India BG Group Plc has bought Enron Corp.'s Indian unit, which operated Tapti gas field and Panna/Mukta oil and gas fields, for $340 million. BG now has a 30% interest in the fields; Oil & Natural Gas Corp., 40%; and Reliance Industries, 30%. The Panna-Mukta fields have recoverable reserves of 184 million bbl. of oil equivalent, and Tapti Fields has reserves of 96.3 million cu. meters of gas. 10 Vietnam London-based Soco International Plc has entered into a joint venture with PTT Exploration & Production covering acreage in the Cuu Long Basin off Vietnam's southeastern coast. PTTEP will take a 25% interest in the 1,370-square-kilometer Hoan Vu Block 9-2; Soco Vietnam will retain 25%; and Petrovietnam will hold the remaining interest. In Hoanh Long Block 16-1, which covers 2,500 square kilometers, PTTEP will earn a 15% interest and Soco Vietnam will retain 15%. Amerada Hess, Opeco Vietnam and Petrovietnam are the other partners. Under the terms, PTTEP will fund it and Soco's share of four wells that are planned for this year. Both blocks are contiguous to Bach Ho Field, estimated to contain recoverable reserves exceeding 900 million bbl. of oil. 11 Indonesia Pertamina reports that an exploration well it has drilled in West Java has demonstrated significant oil flow. The Tunggul Maung well, which was drilled to a total depth of 2,270 meters on the Subang Block, flowed 1,558 bbl. of oil and 12.23 million cu. ft. of gas a day. The company plans a second well to evaluate the discovery. 12 Brunei An international group, headed by TotalFinaElf, was awarded an exploration license for deepwater Block J. This concession, which covers 5,020 square kilometers, lies about 100 kilometers from the coast in 1,300 to 1,800 meters of water. TotalFinaElf will operate the block and hold a 60% interest; BHP Billiton Petroleum Ltd., 25%; and Amerada Hess Corp., 15%. Another consortium comprised of Shell, Mitsubishi Corp. and Conoco has secured the rights to explore deepwater Block K. The Shell-led group expects to sign a production-sharing contract with the Brunei government early this year on the block, which covers 4,944 square kilometers. 13 Australia Apache Corp., Houston, has made a commercial discovery on its properties offshore northwest Australia. The Double Island #1 encountered a 51-ft. net oil column in the Lower Cretaceous Flag Sandstone. The discovery was not flow-tested, as deliverability of the Flag Sandstone has been well established in several nearby producing fields, says the company. Apache operates the discovery and owns a 68.5% working interest; its partners are Kufpec with 19.3% and Tap Oil with 12.2%. Additionally, Apache is now producing 18,000 bbl. of oil per day from three wells in Simpson Field. At midyear, it expects to add 10,000 bbl. per day from the South Plato-Gibson discoveries made last year. Apache plans to drill four additional Flag exploration prospects shortly.