Exploration offshore Newfoundland took a hit as Husky Energy ended its 2002 exploration program in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin on a down-note, says Calgary-based consulting firm Canadian Discovery Ltd. Husky abandoned both of its recently drilled wells in the Grand Banks region. The first test, the Husky Trepassey J-91, was drilled on Exploration License 1044 about six miles south of the company's White Rose Field, which was recently given the green light to proceed with development. The Husky Gros Morne C-17 was drilled farther south on the adjacent EL 1055. Both wells were targeting large undrilled structures and did encounter good-quality reservoirs. More than 460 feet of reservoir sandstone were penetrated at the Trepassey location and another 213 feet of similar reservoir were encountered at the Gros Morne location. Both structures were wet in the reservoir zone, however. The company has no immediate plans to proceed with further exploration on the Grand Banks and will instead concentrate on bringing the 250-million-barrel White Rose project onstream. The project will be the third development offshore Newfoundland, and the second to employ a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. Between 18 and 25 development wells are planned by Husky and its partner, Petro-Canada. First production is slated for the end of 2005. 1 Canada Canadian Superior Energy and partner El Paso Oil & Gas have abandoned their Marquis L-35/L-35A well, 16 miles to the northeast of EnCana Corp.'s Deep Panuke Field, offshore Nova Scotia. The vertical L-35 did encounter the Jurassic Abenaki reef and structure, but failed to find adequate reservoir. The L-35A sidetrack found reservoir similar to that at Deep Panuke and natural gas but with insufficient reserves, reports Canadian Discovery Ltd. The reservoir appears to be downdip of the Deep Panuke pay-zone, which is the opposite of what was expected. CSE says further drilling is planned on the Marquis prospect. In separate activity, Canadian 88 Energy says that it is interested in selling its offshore Nova Scotia interests, where it has a 50% interest with Kerr-McGee in 1.48 million acres. 2 Canada In central Alberta, Calgary firm BlackRock Ventures announced it has completed a successful test on a northern block of lands at its Seal heavy oil discovery. The company drilled a stratigraphic test well in the Cretaceous Bluesky formation at 84-15W5 and found better quality oil than in the recent Bluesky oil discoveries on its eastern and central blocks, where it is currently producing 1,200 bbl. of oil per day from seven horizontal wells. A confirmation well will be drilled, followed by delineation wells to determine the size of the pool. BlackRock is planning to drill three more wildcats on similar prospects this winter. The company is also awaiting regulatory approval for a development program that calls for 110 Bluesky wells on its eastern and central blocks at Seal. 3 Canada American Leduc Petroleums, Calgary, has made a wildcat gas discovery in the Liard Basin of northeastern British Columbia. The b-97-A/94-O-5 well was drilled to a total depth of 10,168 ft. in the Devonian and encountered dry sweet gas, which was confirmed by a drillstem test. The Chevron-operated West Patry b-97-A well is in a very sparsely drilled area of the province near the Northwest Territories border. Although the target formation and test results were not released, it is believed the reservoir is most likely the Mississippian Mattson formation, says Canadian Discovery. The well is currently awaiting completion and tie-in to a pipeline system about a mile away. The b-97-A was the initial well of a multi-well program in a rolling farm-in with Lightning Energy, the majority partner in the well. American Leduc and its partners are planning to spud a second earning well before year-end. 4 Trinidad BP reports that its Iron Horse Field, drilled in its South East Galeota area in the offshore Columbus Basin, contains reserves of 1 trillion cu. ft. (Tcf) of natural gas. The discovery well was drilled in 230 ft. of water to a total depth of 13,471 ft., close to Amherstia and Red Mango fields. Amherstia's ultimate recovery is estimated at 2 Tcf of gas; Red Mango contains 3.1 Tcf. Reservoirs are stacked Pliocene sandstones. 5 Colombia The first well of a two-well exploration program in the Caguan Block in the Upper Magdalena Basin has been spudded by Petrobras. The La Mojarra-1, northwest of the company's Rio Ceibas Field and southeast of its La Jagua Field, is projected to a total depth of 1,525 meters. Targets are the Miocene Honda fault thrust and sand shale-outs. Petrobras operates the Caguan Block and owns a 22.73% interest; Sipetrol owns 27.27%; and Ecopetrol, 50%. 6 Bulgaria The Ministry of Environment and Waters has granted three offshore concessions in Bulgaria's portion of the Black Sea. The sparsely explored Varna Block was awarded to OMV, the 8,970-square-kilometer Burgas Block was awarded to Vintage, and the 4,440-square-kilometer Emine Block went to GX Technology. Each firm was sole bidder on its respective block. 7 Tunisia Agip, a subsidiary of Italian firm Eni, discovered several productive zones in an exploration well it drilled in the Borj El Khadra permit in the onshore Ghadames Basin. The Adam-1 encountered four zones containing 30 meters of net pay in the Silurian Acacus Sand at a depth of approximately 3,000 meters. The primary zone flowed oil on a drillstem test at a rate of approximately 3,500 bbl. per day. A secondary zone tested at 250 bbl. per day, and two additional zones will be tested during completion. Agip operates and owns a 50% interest in the well; Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Dallas, owns a 40% interest; and Paladin Expro Ltd. has the remaining 10%. In separate activity offshore, Agip also completed the drilling of its Baraka South East-1, in the Gulf of Gabes, testing it at the rate of 4,600 bbl. per day. The well was drilled in 90 meters of water to a total depth of 2,300 meters. 8 Nigeria Development of its $1.2-billion offshore Yoho project has been kicked off by ExxonMobil Corp. The project, on Oil Mining Lease 104 in water of less than 300 ft., contains estimated recoverable resources of 400 million bbl. of oil in the Yoho and Awawa reservoirs. For the first two years, the project will use a temporary FPSO vessel and produce at the rate of 90,000 bbl. per day. Full-field start-up is planned for late 2004. This will include additional wellhead platforms, a central production platform and a floating storage and offloading vessel. Peak production will be 150,000 bbl. of oil per day; first oil is expected later this year. ExxonMobil holds a 40% interest in the Yoho project and Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. holds the remaining 60%. 9 Equatorial Guinea Amerada Hess has found oil in its latest appraisal well in offshore Elon Field, in 165 ft. of water on Block G in the Rio Muni Basin. The company encountered 316 ft. of net oil pay in a single continuous column. The well, drilled in the eastern portion of the field, is owned 85% by Hess and 15% by Energy Africa Ltd. Elon lies about 15 miles northeast of Ceiba Field. 10 Angola BP has made a deepwater discovery on offshore Block 31. The Plutao-1A, about 248 miles northwest of Luanda, tested at a maximum rate of 5,357 bbl. a day of oil through a 48/64-in. choke. The test was drilled to 14,607 ft. in 6,628 ft. of water. BP operates and holds a 26.67% interest in the block; ExxonMobil has 25%; Sonangol, 20%; Statoil, 13.33%; Marathon Oil, 10%; and TotalFinaElf, 5%. In separate activity, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Calgary, has taken an interest in deepwater Block 16. The 1.2-million-acre block is 120 kilometers offshore in water depths ranging from 300 to 1,500 meters. CNRL will operate Block 16 and hold a 50% working interest; Odebrecht will have 30%; and Sonangol, 20%. 11 North Korea Singapore-based Sovereign Ventures plans a 15-well drilling program to appraise its Tachon-Rajinits concession in North Korea's Hamgyong Province. The company says that the onshore concession contains estimated reserves of approximately 1 trillion cu. ft. of natural gas and 50 million bbl. of oil. The company was awarded the 6,000-square-kilometer block last year, the only onshore license held by a foreign firm. 12 China CNOOC Ltd. says that it has made a significant gas discovery in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea. The PY34-1-1 wildcat, in the Panyu Block PY34-1, was drilled in 633 ft. of water and tested at the rate of 13 million cu. ft. of gas per day. CNOOC owns a 100% interest in the project. Meanwhile, PetroChina signed agreements with BP and TotalFinaElf to jointly explore a large onshore tract in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The companies will be active in the Suligenan Block, which is south of the 7.7-trillion-cu.-ft. Sulige Field, China's largest discovery in recent years. 13 Australia Five petroleum exploration permits have been awarded offshore Western Australia. Four of the permits are in the Perth Basin, an area that is only lightly explored. Block WA-325-P was awarded to a consortium of Roc Oil (55%, operator), Bounty Oil & Gas (22.5%) and Chimelle Petroleum (22.5%). Block WA-326-P was awarded to Agip Australia. Block WA-327-P went to Chimelle Petroleum, and Block WA-328-P went to Agip (67%, operator) and Santos (33%). The fifth permit-Block WA-324-P in the Bonaparte Basin-was awarded to Daytona Energy.