Egypt plans to spend $2 billion to drill 520 in-country exploration and development wells this year, according to the Minister of Petroleum. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC) is looking to secure the $2-billion, 58-month debt financing that will be used for export funding. New exploration is planned in Qena, Kom Ombo, Aswan, southwest Egypt’s border with Sudan, and in several fields in the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile Delta and the Western Sahara.

The minister also said that the priority is to use natural gas for the domestic market to accommodate increasing consumption rates, which rose 6% in the country in 2009, and to add new gas service to 600,000 households. He denied rumors about the government’s intention to import gas from other countries.

National and foreign investments in the country continued despite the financial crisis—to the tune of about $8.9 billion—including $7.5 billion from foreign investments in research and exploration, natural gas and petrochemical projects.

Egypt’s proven natural gas reserves increased by 1.1 trillion cubic feet to more than 77 trillion from January to June of 2009, while crude and condensates reserves were up by 220 million barrels to 4.4 billion barrels.

1. Brazil
A pre-salt oil discovery on Block BM-C-32 in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil was announced by Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City. An exploratory well drilled on the Itaipu prospect to 16,240 ft. encountered approximately a 240-ft. oil column, at least 90 ft. of net oil pay and no oil/water contact. The Itaipu discovery is in 4,400 ft. of water and is approximately 6 miles southeast of pre-salt production at Jubarte/Whale’s Park Field. Devon operates the well with a 40% working interest; its Block BM-C-32 partners include An­adarko Petroleum Corp., with 33.3%, and SK Energy Co. Ltd., with 26.7%. Devon has four additional wells planned on the BM-C-34 concession.

2. Ghana
At Kosmos Energy’s #2-Mahogany Deep appraisal, the company intersected 174 ft. of net reservoir sandstones. Wireline logging and samples of reservoir fluid at the deepwater Jubilee development in West Cape Three Points license, offshore Ghana, indicate the well has encountered good-quality reservoir sandstones in three zones. Although the Mahogany Deep reservoir was water-wet at the location, the downdip test intersected 39 ft. of pay in the main Jubilee reservoirs. In addition, a new shallower accumulation with 6 ft. of net pay was encountered. The new test was drilled 2.4 miles from the #3-Mahogany location to a total depth of 14,194 ft. in 4,442 ft. of water. Kosmos is headquartered in Dallas.

3. Norway
According to E&P Daily, Lundin Petroleum of Stockholm has hit more pay with a second appraisal well on its Luno discovery. The Norwegian North Sea appraisal #16/1-13 confirmed the oil-water contact and extension. The well encountered an approximate 164-ft. oil column in Jurassic sediments with excellent reservoir characteristics. Comprehensive data, including multiple cores and fluid samples, were successfully acquired. Lundin currently has certified proven and probable reserves of 95 million bbl. of oil in Luno Field.

4. Denmark
A Maersk Oil exploration well hit pay in its #1-X Luke-1X (5504/6-6) well in the Danish part of the North Sea: gas/condensate was found in sandstone of Middle Jurassic age. The vertical well was drilled to 15,000 ft. in layers of presumed Lower Jurassic age and the company encountered hydrocarbons in sandstones of the Bryne formation. The #1X-Luke was drilled east of Elly Field in the AP Moller-Maersk Sole Concession. Maersk’s headquarters are in Copenhagen.

5. Bulgaria
According to E&P Daily, Melrose Resources Plc of Edinburgh, Scotland, plans to drill a Black Sea exploration well on the East Kaliakra prospect, offshore Bulgaria, in 2010. The prospect is adjacent to Kaliakra Field and contains unrisked reserves of 59 billion cu. ft. Work is scheduled to begin midyear while a jackup rig is on location to complete the Kaliakra development well. Melrose will spend $51 million from its development budget on field developments at Kavarna and Kaliakra, with production scheduled to come on in July and October 2010, respectively.

The company will also likely start activity in Romania, contingent on a farm-in on the offshore Midia XV and Pelican XIII concessions. According to Melrose, the Clara, Gasca (also known as Eugenia) and South East Midia (also known as Ioana) prospects are the most likely to be developed initially, because they contain gross unrisked reserve potential of more than 500 billion cu. ft. of gas and about 20 million bbl. of oil.

6. Egypt
Apache Corp. of Houston reported that its #2X-WKAL-A discovery tested flowing 5,085 bbl. of oil and 130,000 cu. ft. of gas in the Faghur Basin play in Egypt’s far Western Desert. The well was designed to test Cretaceous-age Alam El Buieb (AEB) formations in a new fault block in a structurally higher position than the #1X-WKAL-A well. The #2X-WKAL-A logged a total of 198 ft. of pay in four AEB intervals, including the 3G interval that was highly productive in a test of #1X-WKAL-A. The latest well was perforated across the top 10 ft. of a 29-ft. section of the AEB-3C10 sand. Apache plans to drill seven additional exploration wells in the Faghur Basin play during 2010. The company has applied for a development lease with Egyptian General Petroleum Co. for both discoveries and operates the West Kalabsha concession with a 100% contractor interest.

7. Egypt
In Egypt’s West Manzala concession in the Nile Delta, Dana Gas reported a gas discovery at #1-Orchid. The well was drilled 1.3 kilometers west of the #1-Azhar and reached a total depth of 5,578 ft. in the Pliocene Kafr El Sheikh formation. The well hit 26 ft. of net pay in an excellent sand reservoir of the Kafr El Sheikh formation. Dry gas flowed at 12.6 million cu. ft. per day. Dana Gas is based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

8. Kuwait
Kuwait has found a new oil and gas field in the area of Mutreba. The discovery has an estimated initial production capacity of 80,000 bbl. per day of light crude and 110 million cu. ft. per day of gas. According to an official from the state-owned Kuwait Oil Co., the country plans to increase production by 27% to 4 million bbl. of oil per day by 2020. The company plans to develop heavy oil fields and boost output from the Neutral Zone, an area it shares with Saudi Arabia. According to Gulf Oil and Gas News, Kuwait intends to seek help from international oil companies to produce its heavy oil, which is difficult to pump.

9. India
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) of Dehradun, India, has discovered gas with two wells, #1 GK-28 and #1-Kammapalem. The state-owned company drilled the wells in the shallow-water Western Offshore Basin and the onshore KG-PG Basin. The #1 GK-28 was drilled to 5,086 ft. in Block-I Extension PEL: gas flowed at more than 4.45 million cu. ft. per day during testing. This is the first offshore discovery of gas in Miocene reservoirs. In regional exploration, #1-Kammapalem reached a depth of 11,769 ft. in the 1B PEL permit and flowed at more than 3.57 million cu. ft. of gas and 84 cu. ft. per day of condensate. The well test was conducted in the Lower Pasarlapudi formation of Lower Eocene age.

10. India
In the deepwater KG-DWN-2003/1 (KG-V-D3) Block in the Krishna Godavari Basin, Reliance Industries of Mumbai has made a third offshore gas discovery, #44-Dhirubha. The company encountered three gas columns—13 ft., 75 ft. and 52 ft.—across three reservoir zones drilled at #KGV-D3-R1. The discovery was drilled in 6,503 ft. of water by a drillship to 13,495 ft. The well is 20 kilometers southwest of two other Reliance finds, #39 Dhirubhai 39 and #41 Dhirubhai 41.

11. Papua New Guinea
InterOil of Houston announced that a 7-hour drillstem test at #2-Antelope in Papua New Guinea flowed at a stabilized rate of approximately 11 million cu. ft. per day on a 48/64-in. choke. The condensate-to-gas ratio averaged 20.7 bbl. per million cu. ft. of gas, a 15% increase in the ratio from the first drillstem test that was performed at the top of the reservoir. Casing was set to 7,290 ft. and the well was drilled an additional 213 ft. for the second drillstem test. The company plans to perform one more drillstem test in the lower section of the current openhole section, then drill and core into the targeted heavier condensate and potential oil zone for more testing and formation evaluation. After testing and logging the lower vertical section, InterOil plans to drill a horizontal lateral to explore a potential oil zone.