Houston-based explorer El Paso Exploration & Production Co. has brought in two discoveries in the Camamu Basin, off the southern coast of Bahia, Brazil. The wells extended the southern limits of its Pinauna project and added more than 50 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) to the field's resource base.

The Cacau 1-ELPS-16D-BAS was drilled to a total depth of 2,889 meters. A seven-meter section of Upper Jurassic Sergi formation was cored, and the well has been confirmed as an oil discovery. The Acai 1-ELPS-17D-BAS was drilled to a total depth of 2,915 meters, and tested gas and condensate from the top 70 meters of a potential 136-meter hydrocarbon interval.

Pinauna Field was discovered in the 1980s, and was assessed to contain resources of some 37 million BOE. Results from the two new wells have raised that estimate to some 90 million BOE.

The company owns a 100% working interest in this project, which is on Block BAS-64, and is in the process of marketing an up to 50% nonoperating interest.



1 Canada

Tekoil & Gas Corp., Houston, received approval from the Newfoundland & Labrador Department of Natural Resources for an exploration license that covers 244 square kilometers on the Port au Port Peninsula in western Newfoundland. Tekoil intends to acquire a 3-D seismic survey and drill a well. Tekoil farmed into EL-1069, a license held 100% by Ptarmigan Resources, St. John's.



2 Canada

EnCana Corp., Calgary, will build a pipeline for the $700-million Deep Panuke gas project offshore Nova Scotia. It plans to lay a 175-kilometer pipeline to the coast instead of linking into existing infrastructure in the Sable project, reports E&P Daily. The company will award contracts soon, and plans to bring the field onstream in 2010. Peak production will be 300 million cu. ft. a day.



3 Mexico

State-owned Pemex made a deepwater gas discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. The Lalail-1 well, drilled in the Holok-Temoa project, reached a depth of 12,400 feet and flowed 18.1 million cu. ft. of nonassociated gas a day from Miocene reservoirs. It was Pemex's fourth deepwater discovery.



4 Colombia

A joint venture of state-owned Petrobras, Brazil, Eco­petrol, Colombia, and New York-based Hess Corp. won E&P rights for Block 6 in Colombia's latest licensing round in the Caribbean. The joint venture expects to spend at least $5.3 million on exploration. The same group had already been awarded Block 7.

Block 4 was awarded to Petrobras and Ecopetrol, with BP Plc. Petrobras also teamed up with India's ONGC and Ecopetrol to win Block 8, and Ecopetrol and ONGC were awarded Block 10. Sole operator awards went to Ecopetrol on blocks 11 and 12 and BP for Block 5. No bids were received for blocks 1, 2, 3 and 13. All winners received 10-year exploration licenses with production rights to the point of field depletion.



5 Suriname

A long-simmering maritime boundary dispute between two countries has finally reached an agreement under terms of a tribunal of the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea. The ruling grants Guyana sovereignty over some 33,152 sq. kilometers of coastal waters, and Suriname receives some 17,871. The area in question is believed to contain significant oil and gas deposits, and the binding ruling is expected to encourage offshore exploration. The ruling ended a six-year standoff that began when Suriname's navy evicted Canada-based CGX Energy Inc. from a drilling rig authorized to work by the government of Guyana.



6 Brazil

Petrobras, Brazil, reports its offshore Campos Basin Xerelete Field, the deepest-water discovery yet made in the country, is commercial. 1-EPB-1-RJS was drilled in 2001 in 2,483 meters of water to a depth of 3,478 meters. It has been confirmed by 3-RJS-648, which flowed up to 2,500 bbl. of oil a day. Geological studies estimate the field's reserves at 1.4 billion bbl. of oil equivalent. Gravity is 17.5-degrees API. French firm Total SA and Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. are partners in the project, which spans blocks BC-2 and BMC-14, about 42 kilometers east of Papa Terra Field.



7 Norway

Norsk Hydro, Oslo, reports its Ormen Lange Field is now producing gas on the Norwegian continental shelf, about 120 kilometers from the mid-Norway coast, 10 years after its initial discovery. Ormen Lange will export to England some 2.47 billion cu. ft. of gas and 50,000 bbl. of condensate a day at maximum levels.

The field vaults Norway into the position of the world's second-largest exporter of natural gas, and will increase the country's gas output to 4.24 trillion cu. ft. by 2010. At full production, the development is expected to meet 20% of the U.K.'s requirements. Partners are Petoro, Statoil, ExxonMobil, DONG Energy and Shell. Norsk Hydro operated the development phase of Ormen Lange, and Shell will operate the production phase.



8 Romania

Petrom SA, Bucharest, Romania, made its first offshore discovery in eight years with its Delta 4 well in Histria Block 18 in the Black Sea. Tests confirmed a daily flow rate of 2,617 bbl. of oil and 220,150 cu. ft. of gas. The discovery is the second largest in the region after the Torcesti success reported earlier this year. Petrom ramped up its exploration efforts in 2007 to 44 wells, from only six wells in 2006.



9 Ukraine

Vanco Energy Co., Houston, signed a production-sharing agreement for a deepwater concession in the Black Sea. Prykerchenska Block is southeast of the Crimean Peninsula and covers nearly 13,000 square kilometers. Water depths range from 500 to more than 2,000 meters. Vanco plans to concentrate its exploratory efforts on the Tetyaev High, where it has identified a series of large structures, and on the shallower-water Sudak Folded Belt. A 3-D seismic survey will begin shortly.



10 Libya

ENI SpA, Rome, and National Oil Co. (NOC), Libya, have signed a 10-year, $28-billion deal for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and an upgrade of the Greenstream export pipeline. ENI is the major foreign producer in Libya. The investment is part of NOC's deal to extend expiration dates for oil contracts to 2042 and gas contracts to 2047. ENI agreed to convert its existing petroleum contracts to the more recent, and more stringent, EPSA IV model.

NOC and ENI will continue to explore the prolific NC 41 offshore area, and strengthen the Mellitah hub by expanding gas-export capacity from 282- to 565 billion cu. ft. a year. The expansion includes the Greenstream export-line upgrade to increase export capacity to Italy, and the construction of an LNG plant for worldwide marketing. Additional gas production will be available for industrial use in Libya.



11 Equatorial Guinea

Noble Energy Inc., Houston, brought in a successful appraisal well on Block I, some 42 kilometers offshore Bioko Island. The Benita I-2 well encountered some 10 meters of net gas pay underlain by 35 meters of net oil pay. The well, in 951 meters of water, was drilled to a total depth of 3,225 meters about 3.1 kilometers southwest of the discovery well for Benita. Reservoir quality at the I-2 location appears similar to that encountered at the discovery well, which produced 1,038 bbl. of condensate and 34.3 million cu. ft. of gas a day from 41.5 meters of net pay in Miocene reservoirs.

Noble is technical operator of Block I and holds a 40% participating interest. Its partners are Atlas Petroleum International Ltd., Glencore Exploration Ltd. and Os­­borne Resources Ltd. GEPetrol, the state oil concern, has a 5% carried interest in commercial finds.



12 Congo-Brazzaville

Murphy Oil Corp., El Dorado, Ark., will get back to exploration in its acreage offshore Congo-Brazzaville next year. It hopes to drill one well each in the Mer Profonde Sud and Mer Profonde Nord blocks, which together encompass 1.8 million acres. Its Azurite development is ongoing in the former, with first oil expected in 2009, and it hopes to drill a new well in the northeastern corner of the block on its RR prospect. Last year, Murphy drilled several wells on prospects near Azurite, but was not successful. It has several prospects on the North Block with Albian and subsalt potential.



13 Oman

BP Plc is launching a $750-million appraisal program on two natural gas fields on Block 61 in central Oman. The concession covers an area of 2,800 sq. kilometers and includes Khazzan and Makarem fields, which were discovered in 1993 but not developed due to complex, tight-gas reservoirs. Resources are estimated at 30 trillion cu. ft. of gas, almost equal to Oman's existing gas reserves. If crews are available, seismic acquisition will begin prior to year-end.



14 New Zealand

Grande Energy, Fort Worth, Texas, received an exploration license for PEP 38 527 off the western coast of South Island. The license gives it exploration rights for five years on 2.9 million offshore acres between Hari Hari and Haast.