Exploration wells in offshore Angola hit big pay yet again. On deepwater Block 18, BP has announced two discoveries, adding to the Plutonio, Paladio, Platina, Galio, Cromio and Cobalto finds it has already made there. The latest successful wells are the Cesio-1 and the Chumbo-1. The Cesio-1 was drilled in 5,000 feet of water, about 100 miles from the coast. No testing details were released. The Chumbo-1 well was also drilled in 5,000 feet of water, about 125 miles off the coast. The latter well flowed at the rate of 1,080 barrels of oil per day. This find is six miles south-southwest of the Platina-1 discovery. First oil is expected from Block 18's Greater Plutonio area in 2007; peak rates are anticipated at some 200,000 barrels per day. In separate activity, ExxonMobil has made its 17th deepwater oil discovery on Block 15. The Bavuca-1 was drilled in 3,589 feet of water to a total depth of 10,613 feet and tested at a rate of 2,726 barrels of oil per day. The immensely prolific Block 15 contains the Kizomba and Xikomba developments. ExxonMobil operates the Block 15 and has a 40% interest; BP has 26.67%; Eni, 20%; and, Statoil has 13.33%. BP and Shell hold interests in Block 18 equally, but Shell has been in talks to sell its interest to ONGC Videsh Ltd. Sonangol, the state oil company, is the concessionaire on both licenses. 1 Canada The fight in Alberta over the Alberta Energy & Utilities Board (EUB) decision last summer to shut in gas wells in the northeastern part of the province goes on. The board ordered gas production from 938 wells to cease to maintain the subsurface pressures in surrounding oil-sands deposits. The decision followed a six-year study by the province into the effect of gas production on the oil-sands reservoirs. Gas operators appealed. In January 2004, after further study, the EUB recommended 485 wells be permanently shut down. Gas producers objected and were again granted an appeal. Affected producers include Paramount, BP Plc, Devon Energy Corp. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. The disputed area covers 22,000 square kilometers in the Wabiskaw-McMurray region. Oil-sands operators claim as much as 25.5 billion barrels of bitumen will not be producible if the pressure-depletion continues, while reserves of 300 billion cu. ft. of gas that are contained in the 485 designated wells would be lost if they are abandoned. The wells produce 135 million cu. ft. of gas per day. 2 Mexico Pemex has found two new nonassociated gas fields in the Sabinas Basin, Coahuila state. The Pirineo-1 exploratory well was drilled to 2,330 meters some 60 kilometers north of Monclova and encountered gas in the Lower Cretaceous La Virgen formation. It tested sour gas at the rate of 12.7 million cu. ft. per day. The state oil company will drill another 10 wells to develop the field. The Forastero-1, 45 kilometers northeast of Monclova, was drilled to a depth of 4,500 meters and encountered gas in the Upper Jurassic La Casita formation. It tested sour gas at 6 million cu. ft. per day. Pemex plans to drill eight development wells on this find. 3 Venezuela ChevronTexaco and Statoil will begin exploration drilling this year on the Plataforma Deltana area, offshore northeastern Venezuela. ChevronTexaco plans a well on Block 2, where it has pledged to spend $170 million in exploration activities. Its partner in the project is ConocoPhillips. ChevronTexaco also was recently awarded Block 3 with a bid for a $5-million signature bonus. Statoil's project is on the 1,435-sq.-kilometer Block 4, which it was awarded last year after it bid a signature bonus of $32 million. The Norwegian firm has committed to drilling three exploration wells on its license at a cost of $60 million. Water depths are 200 to 800 meters. The Plataforma Deltana area is gas-prone, and any discoveries of gas could be piped to Venezuela's Mariscal Sucre project, which includes an LNG plant. PDVSA, the state oil concern, has the right to take an interest in any commercial developments on the blocks. 4 U.K. Canadian firm Oilexco has made a significant find in Block 15/25b in the outer Moray Firth in the U.K. North Sea. Its initial well on the Brenda prospect, the 15/25b-6, flowed 2,980 bbl. of 40-degree-gravity oil from 56 ft. of perforations in the Paleocene Forties sand during an 18-hour test. Its second appraisal well, the 15/25b-8, tested 4,785 bbl. of oil per day from 39 ft. of perforations during production-testing operations. The Brenda accumulation was originally discovered in 1990 by Conoco's well 15/25b-3. Oilexco owns a 100% interest in License P1042, which it was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2002. It plans to drill another appraisal well immediately. 5 U.K. Partners BG Group and Amerada Hess plan to start production from their Atlantic and Cromarty gas fields in the North Sea in late 2005 or early 2006. The fields, which are seven miles apart, are forecast to produce 220 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Atlantic, operated by BG, has recoverable reserves of 118 billion cu. ft. and Cromarty, operated by Hess, contains reserves of 106 billion cu. ft. The companies are working together on the developments. 6 Russia Denver-based independent Teton Petroleum Co. reports that its average daily net production from its interest in the Goloil license in western Siberia rose 34% to 1,734 bbl. of oil per day in 2003. Last year, the company participated in the drilling of seven new wells and the rejuvenation of an existing well on the license. Currently, four wells are awaiting connection to the gathering system and one well is waiting on completion. In 2004, Teton will participate in four horizontal wells in Golevaya Field and in fracture stimulations on four existing Jurassic wells in Eguryak Field. Development plans for South Eguryak Field will be announced after evaluation of a 3-D seismic program is completed. 7 Kazakhstan Houston-based Transmeridian Exploration Inc. has spudded the South Alibek 5 (SA-5), the fourth well of an initial seven-well drilling program in South Alibek Field, and expects to spud the fifth well shortly. The company currently has SA-1 on test production and SA-2 and SA-4 have recently been completed. The SA-5 and SA-6 wells are projected to a total depth of 13,780 ft. Transmeridian is planning to keep two rigs running all year in the field, which contains 17.1 million barrels of proved reserves. 8 Egypt Apache Corp.'s Qasr-3X well on the Khalda concession in the Western Desert logged 448 ft. of net pay in the Jurassic Lower Safa formation. It is the third well on the Qasr structure, and has confirmed ultimate recoverable reserves of between 1- and 3 trillion cu. ft. of gas and 20- to 60 million bbl. of condensate. The Houston-based operator plans to drill three additional Jurassic delineation wells and at least one shallower Alam El Bueb Cretaceous well at Qasr this year. 9 Egypt BP Egypt flowed 37.4 million cu. ft. of gas and 741 bbl. of condensate per day from a discovery in the western Nile Delta. The Raven-1, in the North Alexandria concession, was drilled in 650 meters of water about 40 kilometers off the coast. The find is the fourth on the block, joining the earlier Taurus, Libra and Fayoum discoveries. BP operates the North Alexandria concession and holds a 60% working interest; RWE DEA holds the remaining 40%. 10 Yemen Norwegian firm DNO ASA says it has found a 20-meter oil column in the Qishn sandstone at its Nabrajah-1 on Block 43, and produced some 2,000 bbl. of oil per day during tests. The well reached a depth of 2,200 meters. Preliminary reserve estimates are 10- to 12 million bbl. of oil for the discovery. DNO operates the license and holds a 50% share; Oil Search and First Calgary Petroleums also hold interests. The partners plan to drill two delineation wells this year. 11 Malaysia A joint venture of Shell, Petronas Carigali and ConocoPhillips has made a sizeable light-oil discovery on deepwater Block J, northwest of Sabah. The Gumusut-1 encountered a long gross oil column in excellent reservoir-quality rock. The well was drilled in 1,000 meters of water. Shell and ConocoPhillips each hold 40% interests in Block J; Petronas holds 20%. 12 Indonesia Unocal Corp. has drilled a very successful appraisal well at Gehem Field in its Ganal area in the Kutei Basin, offshore East Kalimantan. The Gehem-2 well was drilled to a total depth of 17,505 ft. in 6,036 ft. of water, about two miles south of the Gehem-1 on the Ganal PSC. The test encountered a 550-ft. gas column, and on a drillstem, flowed at the rate of 31.3 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,917 bbl. of condensate per day. The well was perforated between 15,362 to 15,523 ft. Flowing tubing pressure on the test was 6,545 psi on a 32/64-in. choke, and the operator notes that rates were constrained by the capacity of the test equipment. It also encountered a 55-ft. oil zone, which was not tested. Unocal operates the Ganal PSC and holds an 80% working interest; Italian firm ENI holds the remaining 20%.