The oil industry is roiling in turmoil in Venezuela and Bolivia. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez has ratcheted up operating terms and imposed retroactive tax increases on foreign operators. European majors Total and ENI saw some fields seized after they refused to convert their existing contracts to joint ventures in which Venezuela's national oil company, PDVSA, would own 60% interests. Other firms, including Shell and Chevron, acquiesced to the new arrangements. In Bolivia, President Evo Morales has sent troops to occupy the country's fields, which mainly produce gas, and has signed a decree authorizing state control of the assets. Oil and gas are not the only targets of this sweep toward nationalization: Morales has said that mining, forestry and all natural-resource industries will be brought under strict control. The decree grants YPFB, the state-owned energy company, interests in the Bolivian units of foreign companies, and specifies that fields producing more than a set volume of natural gas will turn over 82% of their production to the government. Additionally, YPFB will set natural gas prices and supply levels. Morales has given the 21 foreign firms operating in Bolivia six months to sign contracts that incorporate the government's new terms. 1 Canada Calgary-based Breaker Energy Ltd. has completed its 3-28-76-22W5 well as a Slave Point discovery in the Girouxville area of west-central Alberta. The company is drilling a second well, the 11-29-76-22W5, and plans three additional tests in the area. The 3-29 discovery encountered six meters of Slave Point reef, and is expected to begin production at an initial rate of more than 400 bbl. of oil per day. Additional potential pay zones remain behind pipe in the Granite Wash and Beaverhill Lake formations, the company reports. 2 Colombia BHP Billiton has acquired two exploration licenses offshore Colombia. The blocks are in the Carribbean sector, and held 75% by BHP and 25% by Ecopetrol, the state oil company. The two areas, Fuerte Norte and Fuerte Sur, each cover approximately 1.2 million acres and are in 50 to 2,700 meters of water. Previously, the Australian company was evaluating a 3.75-million acre offshore area under a technical evaluation agreement that included its new blocks. 3 Trinidad Calgary-based Canadian Superior Energy Inc. has entered a multi-well contract for a semisubmersible drilling rig for a program off the east coast of Trinidad, according to partner Challenger Energy Corp., also of Calgary. Canadian Superior holds Block 5(c), which has an estimated 4 trillion cu. ft. of gas in place. The rig will drill two back-to-back wells on the Intrepid prospect. Under terms of the partnership agreement, Challenger will fund a third of the drilling costs in the program to earn a one-fourth interest in Canadian Superior's revenue share. Block 5(c) is in the adjacent block to Dolphin Field, operated by British Gas. 4 Norway Statoil has confirmed a discovery on the Gudrun structure in the Sleipner area of the Norwegian North Sea. The company's 15/3-8 appraisal well confirmed its estimate of at least 150 million bbl. of oil equivalent of recoverable reserves at the site. Gudrun is in Production License 025, some 40 kilometers north of Sleipner and 13 kilometers east of Norway's border with the U.K. The company drilled the well in 109 meters of water to Jurassic sediments at a total depth of 4,570 meters. During production tests, the well flowed through a 3/4-in. choke at a rate between 6,000 and 7,000 bbl. of oil equivalent per day. Partners in the block are Gaz de France, Marathon Oil and BP. Statoil is planning to bring the field onstream by 2010, and is considering either a standalone platform or a subsea completion with tiebacks to Sleipner on the Norwegian side of the North Sea or to Brae or Miller on the U.K. side, according to Ogilvie's E&P Daily. 5 Norway Shell has teamed with Statoil in a project to use the world's largest carbon dioxide (CO2) project for enhanced oil recovery at offshore Draugen and Heidrun fields in the Norwegian North Sea. Under the program, the companies would capture CO2 from a new gas-fired power generation onshore plant and methanol production plant at Tjeldbergodden, Norway, pipe it to the offshore fields and inject it into the field to improve oil recovery. Power from the plant also would provide electricity for the field development. The result, according to the companies, would minimize production of CO2 and oxides of nitrogen from any of the operations and increase recovery from the fields. The two companies will phase in the project from 2010 to 2012. The Norwegian government will help with funding and permitting for the new complex, and local industries will have to make the electricity plant pay out. 6 Nigeria The Chinese have finally taken their first flagship asset in Nigeria after CNOOC Ltd. completed its $2.7-billion agreement to acquire a 45% working interest in OML 130. The transaction was signed between CNOOC and South Atlantic Petroleum. OML 130 contains four significant discoveries including Akpo Field and a range of further exploration prospects. The company will pay some $2.3 billion plus an adjustment of $424 million for financial, operating and capital expenses in the period prior to closing. 7 Saudi Arabia A tender is expected to be issued by Saudi Aramco in June for a contract to shoot a seismic survey over offshore Manifa Field. The field is scheduled to produce 300,000 bbl. per day of Arabian heavy crude under an initial redevelopment phase that has an estimated cost of $1 billion. Aramco plans to increase output capacity eventually to around 1 million bbl. per day from the field, which holds estimated reserves of 10 billion bbl. Manifa originally came onstream in 1964 via eight wells. Aramco plans to drill five new wells and workover existing wells, and install three platforms, subsea pipelines and tie-ins to existing offshore production facilities. 8 Georgia Houston independent Frontera Resources Corp. has drilled and cased its Dino #2 horizontal well to a measured depth of 3,040 meters. The well was drilled in Tarabani Field in Block XII in eastern Georgia. Four of the 12 zones in the field have had reserves estimated at 118 million bbl. proved, probable and possible. Frontera also has started acquisition of 80 sq. kilometers of 3-D seismic on its Basin Edge Play, which offers potential in Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary intervals. 9 Uzbekistan Korea National Oil Corp. and Korea Gas Corp. have teamed with Uzbekistan state oil company Uzbeknefgas to explore and develop four fields in Uzbekistan, according to the Xinhua News Agency. KNOC will operate the agreement and explore the Chust-Pap and Namangen-Terachi field areas in eastern Uzbekistan for six months. At that point, the Korean companies have the opportunity to sign development contracts until December of this year. Chust-Pap contains an estimated 385 million bbl. of oil and Namangen-Terachi some 435 million bbl. Kogas will develop two gas fields. If converted to liquefied natural gas, Surgil Field could produce 84 million tonnes and Uzunkui another 191 tonnes. 10 India Action is heating in the Assam Basin of northeastern India. Oil and Natural Gas Corp. plans a $1-billion campaign to increase production from its existing fields in the basin. Most of that money would go into replacing and upgrading equipment and modernizing facilities, but more than a third will go into new wells using the latest technology. The company is looking for foreign investors to participate in the campaign. At this point, only about half of the company's 300 wells in the area are producing. According to an Asia Pulse article, the fields originally contained 1.48 billion bbl. of recoverable oil, and ONGC has produced only 495 million bbl. to date. 11 Malaysia State-owned Petronas has made a gas discovery with the PC4-1 exploration well at its PC4 prospect offshore Sarawak, East Malaysia. PC4-1 is 108 kilometers northwest of Miri at a water depth of 73 meters. It reached a total depth of 3,273 meters and encountered a single gas column of 630 meters, a new record for Sarawak. Other gas fields in the area are F38, F2 Attic and B12. Petronas has three LNG plants in Bintulu, Sarawak, so a ready market awaits via long-term supply deals with South Korea and Japan. 12 Philippines The Philippines government has offered invitations to 15 companies to help it drill for oil in the oil rim associated with Malampaya Field. PNOC Exploration Co. hopes to make a decision on the farm-out shortly. The government opened the development of the oil rim to new operators after Shell and Chevron deemed the project too marginal. Shell and Chevron both own a 45% stake in the Malampaya gas development, and PNOC-EC owns the remaining 10%. PNOC-EC estimates recoverable oil reserves at Malampaya at between 17- and 44 million bbl. The gas field, which was discovered in 1992, has estimated reserves of 2.5 trillion cu. ft. 13 Australia Australian firm Woodside Petroleum Ltd. has approved capital expenditures for the first development phase of Vincent Field, about 50 kilometers northwest of Exmouth in Production License WA-28-L, offshore Western Australia. The field will be developed in phases and is subject to government approvals. Estimated capital cost for the project's first phase is around $720 million. First oil is scheduled for 2008, with initial production of around 100,000 bbl. per day. Woodside has a 60% stake in Vincent and is operator. Japanese firm Mitsui & Co. owns the remaining 40% share.