Algeria has awarded nine out of the 10 concessions it put up for tender in its sixth international licensing round. The only concession that was not awarded was Bir Romane, in the Berkine Basin. Shell was awarded two blocks, both in gas-prone basins. The Zerafa concession, which includes blocks 345, 346 and 322 in the Gourara Basin, is west of BP and Statoil's In Salah project. The Reggane Djebel Hirane concession, consisting of blocks 328, 352 and 362, is in the Reggane region, west of the town of Adrar. BP won three concessions. Its new Hassi Matmat blocks 410 and 411 are in the Oued Mya Basin, not far from super-giant Hassi R'Mel Field. Its other two awards were in the Illizi Basin, where it took the Bourarhat South concession (blocks 203 and 231) and the Illizi Southeast concession (blocks 232 and 241). In the prolific Berkine Basin, BHP Billiton was awarded the Hassi Bir Rekaiz concession, consisting of blocks 443, 423, 414 and 415, and Oudoume concession in the Illizi Basin, consisting of blocks 222B, 222C and 223. In the Constantine Basin, Gulf Keystone captured Bottana Block 129 east of its Block 126a concession. The firm also won the Hassi Bahamou concession (blocks 317, 322, 347, 348 and 349) in the Bechar Oued Namous Basin. -Peggy Williams 1 Colombia U.K.-based explorer Emerald Energy Plc has received two new technical evaluation agreements in the southern portion of the Llanos Basin. The company has a 100% working interest in 2,400 sq. kilometers in the Cacham and Las Brisas areas. The company has 10 months to evaluate the new areas and will spend $234,000 on each block before turning them back or applying for an exploration and production contract. These agreements are in addition to the Mantecal and Altamira contracts Emerald picked up last October in the northern part of the basin, and the Campo Rico and Vigia fields. Emerald recently completed the Vigia-1 well for 440 bbl. of oil per day from the Une sand and 260 bbl. of oil per day from the Gacheta sand. 2 Brazil Petrobras is moving ahead with development of an offshore oil field and offshore gas field. In the Campos Basin, the company is planning the next phase of its deepwater Marlim Sul Field, reports Ogilvie's E&P Daily. It is installing a new platform that will have a production capacity of approximately 180,000 to 200,000 bbl. of oil per day. Additionally, Petrobras plans up to eight subsea wells to develop giant Mexilhao Field in in Block BS-400 in the Santos Basin. The wells will be drilled in 400 to 500 meters of water and will be tied back to a shallow-water platform. Mexilhao contains an estimated 14.8 trillion cu. ft. of gas. 3 U.K. Aberdeen-based Venture Production started making oil at its Gadwell Field in Block 21/19 in the Greater Kittiwake hub area of the Central North Sea. Subsea injection and production wells will tie back to the Kittiwake platform. The company estimated gross proven and probable reserves in the field at 6.4 million bbl. of oil. The rig will move next to Mallard Field to drill a water-injection well. Meanwhile, London-based Paladin Resources and Energy North Sea received development approval for their Wood Field. The $150-million project will consist of a single horizontal development well tied back to the Montrose production platform, some six miles away. The project also will require a compression module on the Montrose platform. That module also will take the associated gas that is now being flared from the Montrose/Arbroath complex. Oil from the Wood unit will go into the Forties pipeline. 4 Norway Shell has made a discovery at its Onyx South West prospect in Block 6406/9 of PL 255 in the Norwegian Sea. The 5,052-meter well, drilled in 308 meters of water, was tested from two Jurassic sandstone intervals. Each flowed at a maximum rate of about 50 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Core, fluid sample and test data indicate the well has a substantial gas column, Shell reports. It intends to follow with an accelerated program of appraisal and exploration in 2006. Shell operates and holds a 30% interest in PL255; Petoro holds 30%; Statoil has 20%; and Total has 20%. 5 Poland The latest well drilled by the Polish Oil & Gas Co. and FX Energy, Salt Lake City, in the Fences II area in western Poland found 33 meters of net Rotliegendes sand with average porosity of more than 20%. The Sroda-4 was drilled to a depth of 3,700 meters, and tested at a calculated open flow rate of 25 million cu. ft. of gas per day. The prospect could contain gross gas reserves of up to 400 billion cu. ft., says FX. The partners plan to run production liner and conduct a production test before drilling the Sroda-5 appraisal test. They also plan to collect 2-D and 3-D seismic over the Sroda, Sroda Northeast and Winna Gora structures in the area. POGC operates Fences II and holds a 51% interest; FX holds the balance. 6 Ukraine Shell and Naftogaz Ukrainy signed an agreement for a joint E&P venture on a 30,000-sq.-kilometer tract in the Dniepr-Donets Basin in northeastern Ukraine. Geological investigation indicates substantial amounts of undiscovered gas in the basin that can be recovered with modern technology. 7 Austria Vienna-based OMV discovered the biggest gas field in Austria's Vienna Basin in the past 20 years with its $8.9-million Strasshof T-4 exploratory well. The wildcat found 141 billion cu. ft. of gas, a volume that equals about half of Austria's annual consumption. OMV found productive reservoirs in two zones at 3,200 and 4,300 meters. It plans a well test and appraisal wells nearby with first gas production in three years. The new well is approximately 20 kilometers east of Vienna. 8 Morocco Anschutz Corp., Denver, has signed up for acreage in Morocco. The company, in a joint venture with Direct Petroleum, has signed up for a one-year technical evaluation of the Asila-Tissa block. The contract gives the two companies exclusive rights to the onshore acreage covering 12,386 sq. kilometers in northern Morocco. Morocco has so far signed 15 offshore and onshore exploration contracts with foreign companies with minimal success. 9 Egypt Apache Corp. has made two discoveries in Egypt on its Khalda and West Mediterranean concessions. The Syrah 1X wildcat, on the 100%-owned Khalda concession, tested 46.5 million cu. ft. of gas per day. It was drilled to a total depth of 4,403 meters and logged 81 meters of net pay. On the West Med concession, the onshore Tanzanite 1X discovery flowed 5,296 bbl. of oil and 7.4 million cu. ft. of gas per day. That well logged a combined 63 meters of net pay and was drilled to a total depth of 3,791 meters. Houston-based Apache has a 65% stake in the West Med concession and RWE Dea has the balance. 10 India BG and Indian firms Reliance Industries and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. plan to put $500 million into the expansion of Tapti Field, some 160 kilometers northwest of Mumbai off India's west coast. Panna, Mukta and Tapti fields are part of India's largest joint production project, and the three companies plan an overall investment of $900 million to expand that production. On the list for Tapti are new compression and processing facilities and a new wellhead platform for up to eight new wells. The expansion should raise production from 250- to 450 million cu. ft. of gas per day. 11 Vietnam Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, has taken a contract for Block 15/2/01 in the Cuu Long Basin, offshore southern Vietnam. The company has a 60% interest in the 700,000-acre concession, and PetroVietnam holds the balance. The partners plan to conduct a 3-D seismic program and drill two exploration wells during the initial three-year exploration phase of the contract. Water depth is 25 to 50 meters. 12 Malaysia El Dorado, Ark.-based Murphy Oil hit pay at an exploration well in Block SK 311, offshore Sarawak. The Rompin-1 was drilled in 50 meters of water to a total depth of 1,835 meters and encountered oil and gas in several horizons. Murphy operates and has an 85% working interest in adjoining blocks SK 311 and SK 309; Petronas holds the rest. 13 Australia Woodside Petroleum's latest deepwater wildcat in the Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia has flowed gas at a stabilized rate of about 46.5 million cu. ft. of gas per day during production testing. The 3,300-meter Pluto-1 intersected a gross gas column of about 225 meters and was tested from a 10.5-meter interval. The Australian operator plans to test a second interval in a different stratigraphic zone after it completes its testing program on the first zone. The new find, on Woodside's 100%-owned WA-350-P permit, is about 110 kilometers southwest of the North Rankin platform.