A number of significant exploration wells were drilled in the Northwest Territories this winter, reports Calgary-based consulting firm Canadian Discovery Ltd. In the Mackenzie Delta region, partners Devon Canada and Petro-Canada announced strong gas flows at their Tuk M-18 exploration well, about 15 miles south of Tuktoyaktuk. The Devon-operated well, one of three exploration wells drilled by the companies this winter as part of their multiyear Mackenzie Delta partnership, reached a total depth of 9,715 feet in Cretaceous Kamik sandstones. The well was tested at restricted rates of up to 30 million cubic feet per day and has estimated potential recoverable reserves of 200- to 300 billion cubic feet. A second well, the Tuk B-02, was drilled to a depth of 10,453 feet and was abandoned after testing. The third probe, the Kugpik L-46, was also abandoned. Additionally, the partners tested their Kurk M-15 well, drilled in winter 2001, but did not find commercial hydrocarbons. The only exploratory drilling in the Central Mackenzie Valley this winter also failed to find production. The EOG et al. Devo Creek P-45 well, drilled by a consortium comprised of EOG Resources, Northrock, Anadarko and IFR, is about 22 miles west of Norman Wells Field on Exploration License 401. The group drilled the test to 8,528 feet but did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons in the Cambrian Mt. Clark clastics or Devonian Hume and Arnica carbonate objectives. -Peggy Williams 1 Canada Petro-Canada and Husky Energy, both of Calgary, have decided to proceed with development of White Rose Field off the coast of Newfoundland. The $1.47-billion White Rose development, the third such project offshore eastern Canada, will employ a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The peak production rate will be 100,000 bbl. of oil per day; first production is expected in 2005. Current plans call for the drilling of 19 to 21 wells that will recover 200- to 250 million bbl. of oil in 10 to 15 years. Husky owns a 72.5% interest in the field and Petro-Canada owns the remaining 27.5%. 2 Canada EOG Resources Inc., Houston, has run production casing on its McCully #H-28 well, approximately five miles northeast of the McCully #1 discovery well, drilled in 2000 in southern New Brunswick, reports Calgary-based consulting firm Canadian Discovery Ltd. The well reached a total depth of 10,693 ft. and encountered a sequence of overpressured, gas-bearing sands in the Early Mississippian Albert Formation. The well is the second of three commitment wells to be drilled by EOG as part of a farm-in agreement with Corridor Resources, Halifax, and the sixth well to encounter gas-bearing sands in the McCully Field area. The third commitment well, the McCully #J-65, about two miles south of the McCully #1, will be drilled shortly. Corridor has recently completed a series of extended tests at the McCully #1 and #2 wells, flowing gas at combined rates up to 3.7 million cu. ft. of gas per day. 3 Canada Vancouver-based Omax Resources has announced a significant new pool discovery in the Ogston Field area in northern Alberta. The discovery well, the Omax et al. Ogston 15-3-90-11W5, was drilled to a depth of approximately 5,248 ft. into the Precambrian. During completion the well flowed more than 600 bbl. of oil per day with no water from the Middle to Upper Devonian Granite Wash sandstones. The well is tied in and is expected to produce at a rate of 400 bbl. of oil per day. The company says it has additional exploration and development targets within the pool. 4 Canada Canadian Discovery reports that BlackRock Ventures Inc., Calgary, has completed its winter drilling program at its heavy oil discovery at Seal, about 38 miles east of Peace River in northern Alberta. BlackRock drilled and tested eight wells, of which seven are now onstream, cumulatively producing more than 1,700 bbl. of oil per day. The discovery well (13-24-83-15W5) has produced more than 50,000 bbl. in its first 200 days of production and is still producing at a restricted rate of 240 bbl. of oil per day from a shallow reservoir in the Cretaceous Bluesky formation at a depth of about 2,050 ft. BlackRock believes it has up to 110 development locations on the two blocks of acreage already tested and is planning another phase of development drilling. 5 Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago signed an oil and gas production-sharing agreement with foreign companies for the offshore Block 3(a). UK-based BG Group Plc has a 30% share in the area, 25 miles off the east coast of Trinidad. Australian firm BHP Billiton will operate and own 30%; Talisman Energy, Calgary, will also have 30%; and TotalFinaElf will have 10%. The block is adjacent to Block 2(c) where BHP Billiton and partners have recently made oil and gas discoveries. The partners agreed to acquire 116 square miles of seismic data and drill six exploratory wells. 6 Brazil Petrobras has confirmed the discovery of a significant gas field in the onshore Amazonas Basin, about 200 kilometers northeast of Manaus. The discovery well, drilled on Block BA-003, is the first to be declared commercial in the basin. The 3-RUT-2-AM well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 6,890 ft. The well lies 2.5 kilometers northeast of Petrobras' 1999 Rio Uatumã discovery, which flowed 17.6 million cu. ft. of gas and 240 bbl. of condensate per day from the Upper Carboniferous Nova Olinda formation, encountered at 5,414 ft. The new find could contain reserves of 200 billion cu. ft. or more, says Petrobras. 7 United Kingdom The Irish government gave Britain's Enterprise Oil the go-ahead to develop Corrib Field, with the first supplies expected in January 2004. Corrib Field, which is 65 kilometers off the west coast of Ireland, will provide 850 billion cu. ft. over a projected life of 15 to 20 years. Enterprise will drill up to seven subsea wells and construct a 91-kilometer pipeline to an onshore terminal. 8 United Kingdom Talisman Energy has started flowing oil from Hannay Field, in UKCS Block 20/5c in the Central North Sea. The field, which contains 10 million bbl. of recoverable reserves, will be produced at rates of 14,000 to 16,000 bbl. per day. Hannay is a satellite to Talisman's Buchan Field, which is about 13.5 kilometers southeast, and uses the same infrastructure. Talisman operates and owns an 85.72% working interest in Hannay; EDC (Europe) Ltd. owns 13.37%; and Oil Expro Ltd., the remainder. 9 Morocco Malaysian firm Petronas Carigali has signed two reconnaissance permits to search for hydrocarbon reserves in Morocco. It will conduct geological and geophysical studies in an onshore area in the Missour Basin and the offshore Rabat Sale Haute Mer area. The company also announced its intention to drill in its Tiznit and Cap Draa Haute Mer blocks before year-end. Petronas, through its South African unit Energy Africa, has a 64% interest in the 6,000-square-kilometer Tiznit Block. The other partners are Sweden's Taurus Oil and Morocco's state-run oil exploration office Onarep. Energy Africa also has a 26.67% interest in the Cap Draa Haute Mer Permit Block. 10 Equatorial Guinea New York City-based Amerada Hess has made another oil discovery in Block G in the Rio Muni Basin. The G-8 well was drilled in 210 ft. of water to a total depth of 5,977 ft. and encountered 157 ft. of net oil pay. The new find, named Elon, is six miles southeast of the recently announced Akom discovery. 11 Pakistan The Pakistani government accepted high bids totaling $42.89 million for its controlling interests in five of nine oil and gas concessions it put up for auction. BP and Occidental Petroleum Corp. placed the high bid of $8.5 million for a 25% stake in the Badin II Field. BP and Occidental already have 25.5% stakes in Badin II, with Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. holding 25%. The Fauji Foundation bid $18.69 million for a 17.5% stake in Pariwali Field. Other successful bids were $11.33 million by Pakistan Oil Field Ltd. for 11% of the Adhi Field, and $3.83 million and $532,500 by Western Acquisitions Inc. for 25% stakes each in the Dhurnal and Ratana fields. However, the committee called for new bids on the most valuable concession, a 40% stake in Badin I Field. BP and Occidental had placed the high bid of $131.5 million on that concession. 12 China Italian oil company Agip will start drilling its first exploration well at the 2,703-square-mile Sebei gas block in northwestern China's Qaidam Basin in Qinghai province. The test is projected to a depth of 4,650 meters. Last year, the company completed a 400-kilometer 2-D seismic survey on the block. Sebei Field is the largest in the Qaidam Basin and contains reserves of more than 90 billion cu. meters of gas. PetroChina has the right to hold up to 51% of any commercial ventures Agip develops on the block. In separate activity, PetroChina has made a gas discovery in Sichuan province, in southwestern China. The company reports proven gas reserves of 38.782 billion cu. meters at the #1, #2 and #4 wells of Luojiazhai Field. Also, the Luojia #5 well tested more than 700,000 cu. meters of gas a day and the Luojia #6 well tested 300,000 cu. meters a day. By 2005, the company expects to be producing 2.64 billion cu. meters of gas per year from Luojiazhai Field.