According to The Associated Press, the sluggish and tumultuous Iraqi government has approved a China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and BP Plc contract to develop six oil fields and two gas fields in Rumalia Field near Basra.

North and South Rumalia fields have estimated reserves of more than 30 billion barrels of oil. Installations in both fields were heavily damaged by U.S.-led attacks in 1991. The deal emerged after the June 2009 bidding process, the first in 30 years. In the agreement, BP will have a 38% stake, CNPC will have 37%, and Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization will control the remainder.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Eni and partners are planning to invest up to $10 billion in Iraq’s 4.5-billion-barrel Zubair Field. Eni, South Korea’s Kogas, and Occidental Petroleum are the development partners, although the deal must still be approved by the Iraqi Cabinet.

The partners plan to increase Zubair’s production from the current 200,000 barrels per day to 1.125 million barrels per day by 2016. Foreign firms have hesitated on bidding in Iraq due to internal violence and government resource controls.

—Larry Prado

1 Mexico

Pemex reports that it has discovered natural gas and condensate at the #1-Leek well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and is testing to determine if it is commercially viable. Additional information about the find was not available. The Mexican state-owned company has drilled four wells in the deep water this year, finding natural gas with the Holok well. Two other wildcats, Cox and Catamat, were dry holes. The Mexico City–based company is stepping up its exploration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico to find new fields to replace plunging production from Cantarell Field.

2 The Netherlands

Gas has been discovered by Northern Petroleum in an onshore Netherlands exploration well, #1-Tiendeveen, in the Drenthe III license. The well is northwest of Northern Petroleum’s Geesbrug gas-field development. The gas in the Permian Zechstein carbonates, which had been identified as a secondary target, has been confirmed from wireline logs and drilling data. Plans call for drilling deeper to primary reservoir targets in the Permian Rotliegend sandstone and Carboniferous Dalen and Hardenberg sandstones. The estimated mean potential gas in place for these reservoirs is 60 billion cu. ft. with an upside P10 potential of 98 billion cu. ft. Partners in the well are Northern Petroleum Nederland B.V., state oil company EBN and Dyas B.V.

3 Brazil

OGX, a private Brazilian oil and gas company based in Rio de Janeiro, completed the #1-OGX-1- RJS (Vesuvio) well in Block BM-C-43 in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil. According to E&P Daily, the well was drilled to 7,701 ft. in 459 ft. of water. The well hit an oil column of more than 656 ft. and net pay of 187 ft. OGX has calculated a recoverable oil volume of between 500 million and 1.5 billion bbl. of oil. Additional details are currently unavailable.

4 United Kingdom

According to E&P Daily, Dana Petroleum of Aberdeen and an OMV-led consortium have made a discovery at the Tornado prospect, offshore West of Shetland, U.K. The #204/13-1 well is approximately 10 kilometers northwest of the Suilven discovery and 30 kilometers northwest of Schiehallion, Foinaven and Loyal producing fields. Gas and oil were found in Tertiary reservoir sandstones and extensive data collection is under way. The well was drilled to a true vertical depth of 2,743 meters in the Lamba formation in a water depth of 1,048 meters. A sidetrack is being planned to delineate the discovery and determine hydrocarbon fluid types and overall size of this new field. Partners in the find are operator OMV 35%, Dana Petroleum 30%, Dong Energy 20%, Faroe Petro­leum 7.5%, and Idemitsu E&P 7.5%.

5 Norway

Statoil has found oil in the Frigg Delta prospect in the North Sea, with proven recoverable volumes put at 18- to 35 million bbl. Located about 21 kilometers east of abandoned Frigg Field, the discovery well encountered oil in good-quality sandstone reservoirs in the Frigg formation. Drilled to 2,171 meters in 120 meters of water, the well bottomed in rocks of Lower Eocene age belonging to the Balder formation. Frigg Delta partners are Svenska Petro­leum Exploration with 40% and Det Norske with 20%.

6 Egypt

Dana Gas has made additional gas discoveries in the Manzala Concession in the Nile Delta. The #1-Faraskur and #2-Marzouk wells are expected to add a total of 86 billion cu. ft. of gas to the company’s Egypt reserves. The #1-Faraskur is estimated to contain reserves of up to 73 billion cu. ft. The well was drilled to 9,515 ft. and found 69 ft. of gas in the Upper Abu Madi formation. The #2 Marzouk was drilled to 13,108 ft. and found gas in three zones. The company plans to connect the #1-Faraskur to another field or to a new gas-processing plant (Salma-Tulip). The #2-Marzouk has been temporarily abandoned and will be completed later. It will be available for production after a development lease is granted.

7 Sierra Leone

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has announced an offshore Sierra Leone deepwater discovery at the Venus exploration well in Block SL 6/07. The #B-1 Venus B-1 was drilled to approximately 18,500 ft. in about 5,900 ft. of water and hit more than 45 net ft. of hydrocarbon pay. Venus is the first deepwater test in the Sierra Leone-Liberian Basin. When activities are complete at the Venus well, the company plans to continue its West Africa drilling operation. Up to five Cretaceous Trend wells will be drilled in Block CI 105, offshore Cote d’Ivoire. Anadarko operates the Venus well with a 40% interest. Co-owners in the discovery include Woodside Petro­leum, 25%, Repsol, 25% and Tullow Oil, 10%. Anadarko is based in Houston.

8 Ghana

Tullow Oil of London announced that the #4-Mahogany appraisal well encountered 43 meters of net pay. Located in the West Cape Three Points license offshore Ghana, #4-Mahogany is the easternmost well on Jubilee Field and was drilled to evaluate its lateral extent and to explore deeper potential reservoir targets. The well was drilled to 3,680 meters in a water depth of 1,079 meters. Tullow has a 22.896% interest in the West Cape Three Points license and its partners are operator Kosmos Energy and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., with 30.875% each; E.O. Group, with 3.5%; Sabre Oil & Gas, with 1.854%; and the Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC), with a 10% carried interest.

9 Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, Chevron Corp. reported that a new survey indicated Bibiyana gas field in Sylhet, Bangladesh, contains 6.6 trillion cu. ft. of gas, more than double original estimates of 2- to 3 trillion cu. ft. The onshore Block 12 discovery is in the Habiganj District. Petrobang­la, the state oil company, is evaluating the survey information for the discovery’s development. Production at Bibiyana began in 2005 and already the company has extracted 260 billion cu. ft. of gas from the field.

10 China

From the permanent tundra in China’s Qilian Mountains, the country’s Ministry of Land and Resources reported that it successfully excavated natural gas hydrate. Methane hydrate (combustible ice) has been found in large quantities in the bed of the South China Sea, and China plans to invest some $80 million for exploitation. It is also assumed that there are further large quantities of methane hydrate in the permafrost of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. According to E&P Daily, the total resources are estimated to be twice as large as the total coal, oil and natural gas reserves in the world. Preliminary research shows that the prospective volume of natural gas hydrate in the country’s frozen regions is estimated to reach 35 billion tons of oil equivalent.

11 Papua New Guinea

InterOil’s #2-Antelope well flowed gas at a rate of 14.1 million cu. ft. and 232 bbl. of condensate per day on its first drillstem test. The well is near the Upper Purari River in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea. The test was performed over an interval from 6,011-6,175 ft. InterOil said the flowrate was limited by on-site testing equipment, but core samples indicated the reservoir had vugs and good visible porosity. With the latest test, the company hoped to penetrate the southern margin of the Antelope Reef and determine the extent of the dolomite cap or higher-porosity limestone reservoir, and to gather information on the southern extent of the field. InterOil is based in Houston.

12 Australia

The #1-Achilles-1 wildcat in northwest Australia’s WA-374-P permit in the Greater Gorgon Area is a gas discovery. The exploration well, operated by Chevron Corp., was drilled to 14,800 ft. and encountered 325 ft. of net gas pay. Production from the discovery will likely be tied to the Gorgon offshore LNG development project. The Gorgon partners, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, have already sanctioned Phase 1 of the LNG project, which will have an annual production rate of 15 million tons. Chevron is also developing the Wheatstone LNG project offshore Australia.