While not an unqualified success, Premier Oil Plc reports some encouragement at its Sinapa-2 2-ST well, a rank wildcat offshore the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau. The U.K. independent's Sinapa-2, spudded in February on Block 2, targeted sediments flanking a salt diapir. It was drilled to a total depth of 3,657 meters and penetrated a thick Albian sequence below 3,131 meters. The upper sand unit was 90 meters thick and contained low-quality oil-bearing sandstones; the lower unit was 250 meters thick and consisted of better quality sandstones that were water bearing. Premier sidetracked the well, penetrating 326 meters of the Albian in an updip position. It says that pressure and structural data suggest the oil column in the sidetrack well is in pressure communication with the oil column in the original well, defining a potential oil column in excess of 500 meters within the steeply dipping beds flanking the salt diapir. The company says it is too early to declare the discovery commercial, but it has proven the potential of the salt diapir flank play. Premier operates Sinapa Block 2 and the adjacent Esperanca blocks 4A and 5A. The company also holds interests in deepwater blocks 7B and 7C. 1 Canada BlackRock Ventures, Calgary, reports it drilled 13 vertical wells and one horizontal well during its 2003-04 winter drilling program on its Seal properties in the Peace River oil-sands region in northwest Alberta. The company holds leases on 52,000 net acres, divided into six blocks. It has delineated more than 300 million bbl. of net oil in place on its Central and Eastern blocks, both of which have been approved by the Alberta Energy & Utilities Board for commercial development. In 2003, it drilled 33 horizontal wells on the Central Block, and plans 35 to 40 wells during the second half of this year. On its Eastern Block, BlackRock will begin drilling a horizontal development program that could encompass up to 66 wells. During first-quarter 2004, BlackRock produced 2,500 bbl. of oil per day from its Seal properties. 2 Trinidad & Tobago BHP Billiton has made an oil discovery with its Puncheon-1 exploration well on Block 3a, offshore the east coast of Trinidad & Tobago. The well encountered a 60-net-ft. oil column and tested oil at the rate of 4,443 bbl. per day through a 40/64-in. choke. Puncheon-1 is the third test in a six-well exploration program on the block, which is due north of BHP's Angostura Field. BHP operates Block 3a and holds a 30% interest; its partners are BG, Total SA and Talisman Energy Inc. 3 Venezuela Venezuela is looking to allow bidding on its heavy-oil deposits in the Orinoco region. State oil company PDVSA would have a minimum 51% interest in the licenses. Three synthetic crude projects are currently operating: Sincor, Cerro Negro and Petrozuata, and cumulative production levels are more than 400,000 bbl. of syncrude a day. A fourth project, Hamaca, is under construction. It is currently producing 160,000 bbl. of blended oil per day. Also, Venezuela is considering the tender of seven offshore blocks that are prospective for natural gas. The Ministry of Mines & Energy may offer four blocks in the Gulf of Venezuela and three in the Falcon area. 4 Brazil Statoil has acquired a 70% interest in deepwater block BM-ES-11 in the Espirito Santo Basin, offshore Brazil, from ConocoPhillips. The Norwegian firm, which already held a 30% interest in the license, is assuming operatorship. A 3-D seismic survey has been completed on the block, which lies at the southern end of Brazil's continental shelf in more than 2,000 meters of water. Statoil also has interests in three other blocks offshore Brazil: it owns 40% of Block BM-J-3 in the Jequitinhonha Basin, and 25% each in blocks BM-S-17 and BM-S-19 in the Santos Basin. The company says it is expanding its presence in the country. 5 Peru Occidental Petroleum has taken a license on 800,000-hectare Block 101 in northern Peru's Maranon Basin from Perupetro. The company will reprocess 1,000 kilometers of 2-D seismic, acquire 200 kilometers of new 2-D seismic, and drill four wells. The first well on the block is planned for 2006. Oxy has a long history in the country, having discovered its largest onshore oilfield complex in the 1970s in Block 1-AB, near Peru's border with Ecuador. The company sold its interest in Block 1-AB in 2000 to Pluspetrol Resources Corp. (Recently, China National Petroleum Corp. bought an 45% interest in Block 1-AB from the Argentine firm.) Oxy also operates Block 64 in the Andean thrust belt. Its partners in that block are Burlington Resources and Repsol-YPF. 6 U.K. Tullow Oil, a U.K. independent, participated in a gas discovery at the Monroe 44/17b-7 exploration well in the Caister Murdoch area. The Monroe well reached a total depth of 12,611 ft. and encountered gas-bearing Carboniferous sands. The hole has been suspended as a potential future producer. Tullow's partners in the discovery are GDF Britain Ltd. (the operator) and ConocoPhillips. 7 Norway Marathon Oil has made an oil and gas discovery at the Hamsun 24/9-7 well in production license 150 in the Alvheim area of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The well, in 403 ft. of water, was drilled to a total depth of 7,382 ft. It encountered 121 ft. of net gas pay and 38 ft. of net oil pay, mainly in two reservoirs. Three sidetrack wells were drilled, all of which found pay. Marathon operates PL 150 and has a 65% working interest. DNO SA is in the process of selling its 35% interest in the license to Lundin Petroleum AB. 8 Hungary Pogo Producing Co. expects to drill as many as six to eight development wells in its Szolnok-2 discovery area and aims to begin producing oil there in early 2005. Since Pogo began work on its Hungarian exploration license in 2003, it has drilled five exploratory wells. Three of these were in the 119,000-acre Tompa area and two were on the 645,000-acre Szolnok area. Results have been better in the Szolnok area, and that's where the company plans to acquire additional 3-D seismic this summer and to drill at least two exploratory wells during the fourth quarter of this year. 9 Egypt BP has made a gas and condensate discovery in the western Nile Delta at its Raven-1. The well is in the North Alexandria concession, which already hosts the Taurus, Libra and Fayoum discoveries. Raven-1 was drilled in 650 meters of water about 40 kilometers off the coast of Egypt. It tested at rates up to 37.4 million cu. ft. of gas and 741 bbl. of condensate per day. BP operates the North Alex concession and holds a 60% working interest; RWE Dea holds the remaining 40%. 10 Angola Operator Total SA has made a second deepwater discovery on offshore Block 32. The Canela-1 was drilled 87 miles off the Angolan coast in 5,053 ft. of water to a total depth of 11,975 ft. It tested light oil at a rate of 6,800 bbl. per day. The discovery is some nine miles southeast of the Gindungo discovery on the same block. Interests in Block 32 are held by Total, with 30%; Marathon, 30%; Sonangol, 20%; ExxonMobil, 15%; and Petrogal, with 5%. 11 Yemen Tulsa-based Vintage Petroleum reports that the An Nagyah-5 well on the S-1 Damis Block tested light oil at the rate of 1,150 bbl. per day, along with 440,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. The 4,265-ft. well, a western extension and the third appraisal well to the 2002 An Nagyah-2 discovery, encountered a gross interval of 46 ft. of oil-bearing reservoir. The Upper Lam was perforated between 3,455-78 ft. Additionally, field production was started in March, and is expected to reach 2,500 bbl. per day during the second quarter. Vintage owns a 75% interest and operates the 285,000-acre commercial development area within the S-1 Damis Block. TransGlobe Energy Corp. of Calgary owns the remaining 25% interest. Separately, Calgary-based Calvalley Petroleum has completed its Al Roidhat-2 appraisal well and has spudded a third well in Al Roidhat Field on Block 9 in Yemen. The Al Roidhat-2 was drilled 60 meters into the basement and encountered a highly porous Saar formation and Kohlan sand, says the company. Evaluation is under way. 12 India U.K. independent Cairn Energy Plc has made a potentially significant oil discovery in Rajasthan on Block RJ-ON-90/1. The 1,032-meter N-C-1 exploration well encountered an 18-meter gross oil column in the Fatehgarh formation, with an estimated 5.4 meters of net oil pay. An oil/water contact was also established in the well. On current mapping, the reservoir in N-C-1 is at least 250 meters downdip from the nearest potential structural crest, which lies north of the block. Cairn says that it will drill appraisal wells once it comes to agreement with the Indian government about the shape and size of an extension area beyond its current block boundaries. The test was drilled 12 kilometers north of Mangala, 70 kilometers north of Saraswati and 300 meters from the present northern boundary of Cairn's block. 13 India Two deepwater gas discoveries have been completed by Reliance Industries in the Bay of Bengal, about 15 kilometers east of its giant Dhirubhai-1 discovery. The D6-K-2 well tested at a constrained rate of 30 million cu. ft. of gas per day on the KG-DWN-98/3 (D6) deepwater block, which covers 1.9 million acres. That well was suspended at a total depth of 2,220 meters in 992 meters of water. The D6-K-1 well was drilled in 1,031 meters of water to a total depth of 2,531 meters. No flow rates were released on the test. The two new fields are reportedly of similar size and reserve potential is being evaluated. Reliance operates Block D6 and holds a 90% working interest; Niko Resources has the remaining 10%. 14 Australia Tap Oil says that the Monet-1 exploration well has encountered oil offshore Western Australia. The well is in TL/1, five kilometers south of the Harriet Alpha Platform. Log data indicate the well has intersected a 20-meter gross oil column. As planned, the Monet-1 has been plugged and abandoned and will now be sidetracked to test the nearby Kadinsky prospect, some two kilometers north of Monet. Partners in the Harriet joint venture are Apache Corp., the operator, with 68.5%; Kufpec with 19.2771%; and Tap Oil, 12.2229%.