Bolivia has been roiling with political turmoil, after street marches by thousands of protestors led to the resignation of President Carlos Mesa. Interim President Eduardo Rodriguez took office in early June, as protestors continued to advocate nationalization of Bolivia's gas-rich hydrocarbon industry. Although Bolivia has enjoyed impressive exploration success during the last decade, the bulk of its gas reserves are stranded. Several fields containing resources of more than 10 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas have been found in the southwest corner of the country, including Margarita, San Alberta and Sabalo. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Bolivia's proven gas reserves were 27.6 Tcf as of January 2004, and when potential reserves are included that number jumps to 53.3 Tcf. At present, Bolivia has the second-largest gas reserves in South America, trailing only Venezuela. The high costs to transport Bolivian gas have made it difficult for its gas to penetrate established markets in Brazil and Argentina. At the same time, many of Bolivia's impoverished citizens are leery of the country's recent moves to privatize the industry and export more gas. In their view, nationalization would assure that all sectors of the population would share in the country's hydrocarbon wealth. 1 Canada The Bakken play that has been so successful in Montana's Richland County is also active on the southeastern Saskatchewan side of the Williston Basin. Nickle's Petroleum Explorer reports that Waveform Energy Ltd. recently drilled two Bakken horizontal tests at 14-29-1-9 W2M and 14-12-1-10 W2M. The company has fracture-stimulated the wells and is flowing back fluids. Just north in the Viewfield area, Bison Resources Ltd. has two rigs drilling horizontal wells and is experimenting with drilling and completion techniques for multilateral horizontal wells after drilling a number of vertical wells. Currently, Bison has Bakken production from 19 vertical and four multilateral horizontal wells, and one additional horizontal and one vertical well working on completion. It reports that the vertical wells produce from 17 to 28 bbl. of oil per day after fracturing, and that it is holding the horizontal wells to initial rates of 110 bbl. of oil per day. Starpoint Energy Ltd. also has drilled Bakken horizontal wells at Huntoon in T7, R8 and R10, W2M. All of the operators are based in Calgary. 2 Colombia Colombia has approved four technical evaluation agreements and one new exploration contract. All five agreements cover property in the Llanos Basin. U.S. firms Harken Oil and Huepecol picked up a license each; Harken won the Valle Lunar evaluation area for a work commitment of $278,000 and Huepecol was awarded the Jagueyes evaluation area for a $60,000 commitment. Harken said its work area covers some 2.1 million acres and contains two productive wells. A subsidiary of Canadian firm Petrobank Energy & Resources received the Garcero Oeste evaluation area for a $300,000 commitment, and Colombian firm Hocol was awarded the Bengala evaluation area for an $800,000 commitment. The exploration contract went to another Colombian firm, Prako Services, for a promised investment of $1.5 million on the Pajaro Pinto block. 3 Peru Two oil discoveries have been reported in Peru, to the delight of government authorities. In northwestern Peru's Sechura Basin, Houston-based Offshore International Group's Peruvian subsidiary, Petro-Tech Peruana, has tested a well at the rate of 1,200 bbl. of 35-degree oil and 500,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. The San Pedro-1X was drilled in 80 meters of water to a total depth of 2,080 meters in the southern part of Block Z-2B, about 23 kilometers offshore San Pedro, Piura department. Production is from a fractured Paleozoic reservoir. The company plans to drill two appraisal wells to ascertain the size of the find, which it has said could range between 10- and 50 million bbl. The northern portion of the block contains four sizeable fields that have produced more than 300 million bbl. of oil; current production is 11,000 bbl. of oil and 64 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Additionally, in northeastern Peru's Block 39, Spanish firm Repsol YPF and Houston-based Burlington Resources have tested their Buenavista-1X exploratory well at a rate of 3,000 bbl. of 14-degree oil per day. The well, which was drilled to a depth of 2,147 meters for an estimated cost of $10 million, is part of a developing trend in which 100 million bbl. of oil have already been discovered and another 21 structures have been identified. 4 Norway Shell has discovered a substantial gas field at its Onyx South West prospect, some 40 kilometers west of Draugen Field in the Norwegian Sea. It drilled the 6406/9-1 well in 308 meters of water to a total depth of 5,025 meters. On two production tests, a Jurassic reservoir tested at a maximum rate of 49.4 million cu. ft. of gas per day through a 3/4-in. choke. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate estimated that the prospect could contain 2.1 trillion cu. ft. of gas. Shell plans an appraisal well at the site, and another wildcat on the PL 255 license in the second half of next year. Shell holds a 30% interest in PL255 and operates the block; Petoro holds 30%; Statoil has 20%; and Total, 20%. 5 Turkey Dallas independent Toreador Resources Corp., with Stratic Energy and Turkish national oil company TPAO, tested gas at a sustained rate of approximately 7.6 million cu. ft. of gas per day from the Eocene Kusuri formation at their Akkaya-1 delineation well in the southwestern Black Sea. The test was conducted on an 11-meter section between 1050.5 and 1,135.5 meters; in total, the well encountered 47 meters of net pay. The test was drilled on the company's South Akcakoca Sub-Basin project, five miles offshore in shallow water. It confirms the company's Ayazli-1 well some seven kilometer northwest, and supports the estimates that the South Akcakoca area contains potential reserves of 350 billion cu. ft. of gas. 6 Sao Tome and Principe The Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority awarded licenses on five offshore blocks from the organization's 2004 licensing round. ERHC Energy previously exercised its option rights on all five blocks and is involved in consortiums that won operating rights on three blocks. It is in a consortium with Devon Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources on Block 2, a consortium member with Anadarko Petroleum on Block 3 and a member of a consortium with Noble Resources on Block 4. The Block 4 group has a 60% interest, while the Block 2 group has a 65% interest and Block 3 a 51% interest. International Commerce & Communications and Oil Exploration picked up 75% of Block 5. Block 6 went to Filthim-Huzod with an 85% interest. Block winners paid a total of $348 million signature bonuses. Block 1 was assigned in an earlier deal with a signature bonus of $123 million. 7 Angola Total's Gengibre-1 ultra-deepwater wildcat discovered oil on the eastern side of prolific Block 32. It tested 4,724 bbl. of oil per day from a single formation. The well was drilled in 1,703 meters of water to a total depth of 4,432 meters at a location about 17 kilometers from the company's Gindungo-1 discovery and some 12 kilometers from its Canela-1 discovery. Total's partners in the block are Marathon Oil, Sonangol, ExxonMobil and Petrogal. 8 India India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. has made three offshore oil and gas discoveries. Off India's west coast, about 60 kilometers southwest of Mumbai High Field, the company drilled a well to a depth of 3,949 meters in 82 meters of water that flowed 17.32 million cu. ft. of gas and 2,491 bbl. of oil per day from an interval in the Panna formation, and 15.96 million cu. ft. of gas and 2,045 bbl. of oil per day from a shallower Panna zone. A 3-D seismic survey showed a potential area of 9.6 sq. miles for the structure. In the Krishna Godavari Basin, offshore India's east coast, ONGC's VA-2 well was drilled to 2,614 meters on Block KG-OS-DW-IV in 689 meters of water. It found 17 meters of pay and flowed 11.5 million cu. ft. of gas through a 24/64-in. choke. Another east-coast discovery, the G4-4 well on Block IG, encountered gas pay that was confirmed by wireline tests. It was drilled in 331 meters of water. 9 China Shell will invest $600 million to develop the Changbei gas field in partnership with PetroChina. The field is in the Ordos Basin, straddling the border between Shaanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Shell will operate the project under a production-sharing contract, and has already signed engineering, procurement and construction contracts. It anticipates delivering 53 billion cu. ft. of gas to Beijing, Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin by 2007 and ramping production up to 106 billion cu. ft. of gas by the end of the following year. The project includes a gas-processing plant and up to 50 multilateral horizontal wells. 10 Vietnam U.K. firm Soco International tested 9,010 bbl. of oil and 22.6 million cu. ft. of gas per day from its CNV-3X appraisal well on the Ca Ngu Vang (Golden Tuna) structure in Block 9-2, offshore Vietnam's southwest coast. The production is from an openhole completion in 2,000 meters of granitic basement in the well, which was drilled to a measured depth of 6,123 meters (4,426 meters true vertical depth). Next, the company will move the rig to Block 16-1 to drill the Te Giac Trang prospect. 11 New Zealand Calgary-based operator Tag Oil signed an agreement with New Zealand-based Green Gate Ltd. that gives Tag the right to earn working interests in the onshore section of the 600,000-acre PEP-38260 exploration area in the Canterbury Basin on the South Island. Tag will earn 30% and assume operatorship onshore by acquiring 2-D seismic at a cost of $400,000 on the Kate Anticline prospect. It can earn another 40% by drilling one exploratory well based on the seismic data. The South Island has no current production.