UPSTREAM REVIEW

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/oet.12259
• Published date: 01 June 2015
• Date: 01 June 2015

UPSTREAM REVIEW

Africa

Libya:Enihasmadeanaturalgasandcondensatedis-

covery in the B ouri North prospect oshore Libya.

e A1-1/1 exploration well owed at 1,340boe/d

during production tests, Eni said in a st atement. e

discovery was made in Area D, 140 km (87 mi) from the

coast and 20 km (12.4 mi) north of the producing Bouri

eld in a water depth of 125 m (410 ). is is the second

discovery in Area D since the start of 2015.

Eni North Africa BV operates Area D with 100%

working interest through the exploration phase. Eni has

been present in Libya since 1959 and says it currently

produces more than 300,000b oe/d in the country.

Asia Pacic

China: CNOOC has made a mid-sized discovery on the

Liuhua 20-2 structure in the eastern South China Sea.

e LH20-2-1 discovery well was drilled and com-

pleted at a depth of about 2,970 m (9,744 ), encounter-

ing oil pay zones with a total thickness of 35.2m (115 ).

e well achieved production levels of around 8,000b/d

on test and the crude oil density is about 0.75.

e Liuhua 20-2 structure is located in the northern

slope belt of Baiyun Sag in the Pearl River mouth basin

of the South China Sea with an average water depth of

about 390 m (1,280 ).

Pakistan: MOL Group has made a new commercial

discovery with its Mardan Khel-1 exploration well on

TAL block in Pak istan’s Khyber Pakhtu nkhwa province.

e company also has signed a farm -in agreement for the

DG Khan block in Pakistan, taking 30% nonoperating

interest from Pakistan Oilelds Ltd (POL).

Mardan Khel-1 was drilled to a depth of 4,912 m

(16,115 ). e well tested four formationsand all owed

with high volumes ofgas and condensate. Total produc-

tion capacity of TAL facilities is currently 80,000 boe/d

gas and 37,000 boe/d liquids, which is sucient for inte-

gration of t he new wel l, a company st atement said.

MOL plans to carry out an appraisal plan including

additional wells on t he eastern and western portions of

the structure. e discovery is the seventh on the TAL

block, which the company has operated since 1999.

MOLPakistanOil&GasCo.BV,awhollyownedsub-

sidiary of MOL Group, operates TAL with 10% intere st,

partnering with Pakistan Oil & Gas Development Co.

(OGDC) 30%, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. (PPL) 30%, POL

25%, and Government Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. 5%.

Europe

Denmark:MaerskOilhasdiscoveredhydrocarbonswith

anexplorationwellintheXanaprospectintheDanish

North Sea.

e Xana-1X, located in license 9/95 was drilled to

a total depth of 5,071 m (16,637 ) in 68 m (223 ) of

water.

Maersk Oil is the operator of the license, with its par-

ent company, A.P. Møller-Mærsk, holding a 34% stake.

Dong E&P has 20%, Danish state oil and gas company

Nordsøfonden has 20%, Noreco Oil Denmark 16%, and

Danoil Exploration 10%.

Russia

Total announced the start-up of gas and condensate

production from the onshore Termokarstovoye eld in

the Yamalo Nenets autonomous district in the Russian

Arctic.

e eld will produce 6.6 mcm of gas and 20,000 b/d

of condensate or a combined 65,000 bo e/d, the com-

pany said.

Termokarstovoye is the rst project with joint ven-

ture partner OAO Novatek, Russia’s second largest gas

producer, with whom Total is also jointly developing

the Yamal liqueed natural gas (LNG) project,c urrently

under construction in the same district.

Western Hemisphere

Brazil: Petroleo Brasilierio (Petrobras) hasfound a 352 m

(1,155 ) column of 31 API gravity oil with its second

well in the Carcará area on Block BM-S-8 in the ultra

deep waters of the presalt Santos basin.

Discovery well 3-SPS-105, also known as Carcará

North, is located 4.6 km (2.9 mi) north of discovery

well 4-SPS-86B in 2,072 m (6,798 ) of water. e goo d

quality reser voirs are just below the salt layer at a depth

of 5,820 m (19,094 ).

e company will evalu ate the productivity of the

reservoirs aer drilling concludes. Well 3-SPS-104DA,

also known as 3-BRSA-1216DA-SPSand Carcará North-

west, is scheduled to be drilled this year, under the

company’s discovery evaluation plan (PAD), which is

expected to be completed by March 2018.

Petrobras operates Carcará North with 66% interest

in partnership with Petrogal Brasil (14%), Barra Energia

do Brasil Petroleo e Gas (10%), and Queiroz Galvao

Exploracao e Producao (10%).

USA: e US Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean

Energy Management (BOEM) conditionally approved

Shell’srevisedexplorationplantodrilluptosixwellson

the Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, oshore Alaska

this summer.

Shell plans to resume drilling for the rst time since

2012 when its Kulluk drilling rig ran aground o

Kodiak Island. Drilling will take place in 43 m (140) of

water, about 113 km (70 mi) northwest of Wainwright,

© 2015 John Wiley& Sons Ltd