U.K. independent Cairn Energy has hit a company-maker in northwestern India's Barmer Basin, onshore Rajasthan-the N-B-1, drilled on the 5,000-square-kilometer Block RJ-ON-90/1. The well encountered 12 oil-bearing reservoirs in the Fatehgarh formation, and flowed 6,000 barrels of oil per day from three zones during a drillstem test. The flow rate from Zone 1 was 1,240 barrels per day on a 68/64-inch choke; Zone 2 flowed at 1,925 barrels per day on a 64/64-inch choke; and Zone 3 flowed 2,837 barrels per day on a 96/64-inch choke. Gravities are 24 to 29 degrees, and reservoir permeabilities are estimated at 500 millidarcies to three darcies. The well is capable of producing at rates of more than 10,000 barrels per day, says Cairn. Initial oil-in-place estimates for the discovery range from 450 million to 1.1 billion barrels, Cairn adds. The find is the latest in a string of successes Cairn has drilled on the block, beginning with the Guida discovery in 1999, then Saraswati in 2001 and Raageshwari last year. These fields require additional drilling before they can be declared commercial finds, however. Cairn will now drill an appraisal on the new find, and acquire additional seismic data. Cairn holds a 100% interest in Block RJ-ON-90/1, and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. has a right to 30% of a commercial discovery. 1 Canada Alberta's Energy and Utilities Board has approved Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s plans for its $6.5-billion Horizon oil-sands development near Fort McMurray in the northeastern portion of the province. By mid-year, CNRL plans to make its own determination about whether to proceed with the project. The 236,000-acre Horizon project contains an estimated 18 billion bbl. of bitumen in place, and approximately 6 billion bbl. of that total is recoverable using existing technology. 2 Peru Spanish firm Repsol YPF and Houston-based Burlington Resources have been awarded rights to explore Block 57, close to giant Camisea Field in the Ucayali Basin in southeastern Peru. The partners pledged to spend $45 million on activities on the 1.5-million-acre block, which has never been drilled. Repsol will operate. In December, the same partners were awarded rights to 2.1-million-acre Block 90, also in the Ucayali Basin. Additionally, Repsol plans to explore Block 39 in northern Peru's Maranon Basin. It will shoot seismic this spring and drill its first well on the block during the second half of the year. 3 U.K. Canadian junior Oilexco Inc. reports that it has successfully drilled the first well in a three-well appraisal program it is carrying out on License P1042, Block 15/25b, in the Outer Moray Firth area in the U.K. North Sea. The 15/25b-6 well, on the Brenda prospect, tested at an average rate of 2,980 bbl. of 40-degree API oil and 600,000 cu. ft. of gas per day from 56 ft. of perforations in the Paleocene Forties sandstone. Currently, the well is being suspended for future reentry as a production well. Oilexco owns a 100% interest in the find. The firm is also drilling a well on its Sheryl prospect, four kilometers northwest of the Brenda accumulation. 4 Norway Interests in the Barents Sea are changing hands: Shell is selling its 15% stake in Goliat Field in PL 229 and 25% interests in PL 035 and PL 272 on Block 30/11 to DNO ASA, a small Norwegian company. Goliat, 50 kilometers southeast of Snohvit Field, is operated by Italian major ENI. DNO says two exploration wells will be drilled on its new assets this year, one in the Goliat area and one on Block 30/11. 5 Poland Salt Lake City-based independent FX Energy Inc. reports its Zaniemysl-3 exploratory well, in the 265,000-acre Fences I project in western Poland, encountered approximately 38 net meters of porous, gas-bearing Rotliegend sandstone. During a drillstem test of the top 18 meters of the structure, the well flowed at a controlled rate of approximately 12.5 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Partners in the project are FX, Polish Oil & Gas Co. and Omaha-based CalEnergy Co. Inc. 6 Kazakhstan ConocoPhillips reports the North Caspian Sea production-sharing consortium has received approval of its Kashagan Field development plan from the government petroleum authority. Initial production from the 13-billion-bbl. field is currently targeted at 75,000 bbl. of oil per day in 2008, and subsequent development phases will raise production levels to 1.2 million bbl. per day. The consortium plans to inject produced gas back into the reservoir. The first phase of development will cost $10 billion, and will include onshore gas processing and offshore gas injection. Full field development will require $29 billion. ConocoPhillips' partners in the consortium are operator ENI, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and Inpex. BG Group has an interest that it is selling to other consortium members. 7 Morocco ENI has agreed to participate in Vanco Energy's first deepwater well on the offshore Ras Tafelney exploration permit. The Shark B prospect is in 2,120 meters of water some 130 kilometers off the coast of Morocco. The initial well will be drilled to a total depth of approximately 4,162 meters to test Cretaceous and Tertiary objectives. Houston-based Vanco operates the project and has a 45% interest in the permit; ENI has 30% and Onarep, 25%. 8 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia struck three major agreements with Lukoil and Sinopec as well as an ENI and Repsol YPF consortium for gas exploration rights. Saudi Aramco will hold a 20% stake in each operating company. Lukoil was awarded an 80% interest in 30,000-sq.-kilometer Zone A south of super-giant Ghawar Field; Sinopec, an 80% interest in 38,000-sq.-kilometer Zone B in the Empty Quarter; and ENI and Repsol, 50% and 30% interests, respectively, in 51,400-sq.-kilometer Zone C, also in the Empty Quarter. Last summer, Shell, in partnership with Total and Saudi Aramco, secured exploration rights to 120,000 sq. kilometers in the Empty Quarter. 9 India Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. has found gas in its GA-AB well, drilled in a deepwater block in the Bay of Bengal offshore the eastern coast of India. The well was drilled to a depth of 8,777 ft. and encountered 184 ft. of hydrocarbon-bearing sands in five zones. One interval was tested, flowing 14.4 million cu. ft. of gas per day through a half-in. choke. ONGC's block, in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, is adjacent to a block on which Reliance Industries Ltd. has a large gas discovery. ONGC has more than 10 exploration blocks in the basin. 10 Indonesia BG Group is selling its 50% interest in the Muturi production-sharing contract in West Papua to CNOOC Ltd. and Indonesia Natural Gas Resources Muturi Inc., a subsidiary of LNG Japan Corp., which is in turn a joint venture of Nissho Iwai Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. The Maturi PSC, along with the Wiriagar and Berau concessions, comprise the Tangguh LNG project, which contains estimated proved and probable reserves of 18.3 trillion cu. ft. of gas. BP is also a partner in the Tangguh joint venture, which is scheduled to begin production in 2007. Tangguh's LNG will be exported to China and South Korea. 11 Australia Australian firm Sydney Gas Ltd. is moving ahead with the full development of its Camden coalbed-methane project in the Sydney Basin of eastern New South Wales. A 25-well pilot had previously established the first commercial gas production in that state, and the state government recently approved a major gathering/compression facility that will be commissioned by mid-year. The company expects that by year-end it will have more than 125 wells delivering approximately 35 million cu. ft. of gas per day into the metropolitan Sydney gas market. In addition, Sydney Gas has several new pilots under way in other areas within its 5.6-million-acre position, targeting shallow (1,500-2,500-ft.) Permian-age coals. The company has a 100% interest in the acreage, which is all in the Sydney Basin. 12 New Zealand Following a competitive bidding round, the New Zealand government has awarded six offshore and seven onshore exploration permits comprising 8,995 sq. kilometers. A total of 23 bids were received for the blocks, in the Taranaki region. New entrants to the area included Houston-based Pogo Producing Co. and Australian firm Roc Oil. Pogo was awarded blocks E, G and I, and Roc, in partnership with Westech Energy New Zealand and Bridge Petroleum Ltd., took Block O. Other successful participants were OMV New Zealand Ltd.; Origin Energy Resources NZ Ltd.; Todd Petroleum Mining Co. Ltd.; Discovery Geo (Australia) Corp.; CSR New Zealand Exploration LLC; Tap (New Zealand) Pty Ltd.; Austral Pacific Energy (NZ) Ltd.; Magellan Petroleum (NZ) Ltd.; Petroleum Resources Ltd.; and Durum Energy (NZ) Ltd. The total value of the successful bids, including the drilling of an exploration well on each permit, is $133 million.