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STAVANGER, NORWAY: StatoilHydro discovered hydrocarbons in two wells in the Oseberg area in the Norwegian offshore sector of the North Sea.
The first discovery was made in a long-reach exploration well from the Oseberg C platform, targeting the Cook Formation in the Theta structure. Oseberg Petech Project Leader Trond Eide said, "The well is designed to be converted to a producer within 45 days after the discovery, giving an extremely quick turnover from prospective resources to producible reserves."
Preliminary expected volumes are around 5 million barrels of oil.
Shortly after the Theta discovery, oil and gas was also found in the Delta S2 structure in the Oseberg South area. The discovery was made with well 30/9-21S, which targeted the Brent Group. Drilled by semisubmersible Transocean Winner, the discovery is believed to contain about 16 million recoverable BOE. The rig is now drilling a second branch to test the nearby Richards prospect.
ers eye Dominican Republic play
The US Senate voted today to suspend oil deliveries to the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve until prices fall below $75 a barrel, defying the Bush administration, which opposes halting shipments into the stockpile or releasing supply into the market.
The administration’s has opposed the move by saying it would do little to reduce oil prices, which hit another record near $127 a barrel today.
The administration also says the country needs a bigger emergency reserve beyond the current 703 million barrels to offset any major supply disruptions.
“In the short run...we can stop putting oil underground and put some downward pressure on gas prices and oil prices,” Reuters quoted lawmaker Byron Dorgan, the main sponsor of the proposal, as saying.
“When the American consumer is being burned at the stake by high gas prices this government ought not be carrying the wood. It’s just that simple.”
UK: EnCore Oil's first operated well has shown gas having just reached total depth of 11,805 feet (3,598 m), with wireline logging completed. Analysis of wireline log data suggests that the Rotliegendes Sandstone reservoir is gas-bearing as expected. A company spokesman said, "However, until a full testing programme has been completed there is still uncertainty as to whether this reservoir is capable of delivering significant flow rates."
The co-venturers have concluded that the results to date support a decision to flow test the well. It is expected that testing operations will take approximately 14 days subject to operational and weather constraints. The main objective of the 48/2c-5 well is to establish whether the Rotliegendes Sandstone reservoir is capable of flowing at commercial rates.
The 48/2c-5 Cobra appraisal well on Southern North Sea Block 48/2c was being drilled by jackup ENSCO 80 and is being managed by Applied Drilling Technology International (ADTI). The well was being drilled up dip from the 48/2-1 well, which was drilled in 1984 and flowed at 2.7 MMcf/d. The original 48/2-1 well was interpreted as having reservoir damage and EnCore felt that reservoir performance could be improved by the use of modern drilling and completion techniques.
REPUBLIC OF GUINEA: Hyperdynamics 2-D data acquisition offshore Guinea has confirmed large, deep structural traps in the Lower Cretaceous section in the West African oil and gas concession.
The company had earlier identified a structure 16 kilometers (9.9 miles) across, and has now delineated an adjacent structure that is estimated to be 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) long and eight kilometers (4.9 miles) wide. Hyperdynamics expects to identify more new leads as the data acquisition continues, pointing to the similarity between targeted areas and structures along the West African coast where other operators have made discoveries.
Hyperdynamics plans to expand on the 2-D data acquisition with the first 3-D seismic information gathered offshore Guinea later this year.
HOUSTON/OFFSHORE TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE: A popular topic of discussion at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference was the Lower Tertiary ultra-deepwater trend in the Gulf of Mexico. Executives from Shell, Chevron, BP, Anadarko and Devon Energy spoke of the Lower Tertiary as the "new wave" in the Gulf of Mexico, an area with great potential but equally great challenges that could extend the life of the Gulf of Mexico offshore industry, much like the move from drilling on the Shelf to deepwater did.
The Lower Tertiary trend includes recent discoveries and projects such as Kaskida, Cascade, Chinook, Perdido, St. Malo and Jack. While operators estimate large reserves at these fields, many of the executives talked about specific difficulties associated with the area. Russ Ford, technical vice president for Shell E&P in the Americas, mentioned the viscous oil and low energy reservoirs of the trend as particular problems, but said Shell looks forward to the challenge. Shell's Perdido project, in 8,000 feet (2,438 m) of water, will feature subsea boosting and expandable casing to exploit resources there.
Devon is drilling another appraisal well in 6,964 feet (2,123 m) of water at the Jack discovery using Diamond Offshore semisubmersible Ocean Endeavour. Transocean is building two new drillships for Chevron to use on the project. The Discoverer Clear Leader and Discoverer Inspiration are important for Chevron's success in the Lower Tertiary, as the two vessels will have the capacity to drill in the ultra-deep water of the trend.
WASHINGTON D.C.: Members of the U.S. Congress are questioning the government's move to step up biofuel use in the country, in light of surging food prices.
The U.S. Congress last year passed into law a requirement to include 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels in the country's gasoline consumption by 2022. An increasing volume of the U.S. corn output is channeled into producing biofuel to meet the nation's needs. Joachim von Braun, head of the International Food Policy Research Institute, estimates about 30 per cent of the nation's corn production will be feed into ethanol plants alone this year.
Government incentives and higher profits have lured farmers into planting corn to supply biofuel plants instead of other food crops like wheat or soybean. The move away from food crop production contributed to a reported four per cent increase in retail food prices last year, the largest increase since 1990. Food prices are expected to rise four per cent to five per cent again this year.
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