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Oil & Gas Round-Up: 29 January

29 January 2010

Stratic Energy's (SE.) Al Tayr 101 well, drilled on its operated Block 17 concession in Syria, is being plugged and abandoned following an unsuccessful test programme. The well was tested over two prospective intervals, neither of which flowed gas to surface.

Oilex's (OEX) second well, Lolotoe-1, of its two-well drilling programme in the Timor Sea was dry. The news follows a decision in early December to abandon the first well in the programme, Loré-1, after it also turned out to be dry.

Egdon Resources (EDR) is encouraged by the initial results from the drilling of the Dukes Wood-1 well in Nottinghamshire, UK and an extended well test will start in February.

Matra Petroleum (MTA) said it has made considerable progress in controlling the Nitrogen influx and curing mud losses at its appraisal well-13 on the Sokolovskoye field in Russia. The well spud on 25 October 2009 but the nitrogen kick caused drilling to stop in December. A new drilling contractor has been hired and the well is now expected to take up to 100 days to complete once drilling restarts.

Nighthawk Energy (HAWK) has reported that five new vertical wells and one horizontal section, drilled using an existing vertical well, had been drilled on its flagship Jolly Ranch project during the winter drilling campaign. The latest drilling campaign brings the total number of deep wells drilled on the Jolly Ranch project to 15, two of which will be used as water disposal wells.

Tower Resources (TRP) expects to spud the Avivi-1 well in Exploration Area 5, Uganda, around 12th February. The rig has been delayed on completion operations on Tullow Oil's Kasamene-2 well. Offshore Namibia, Tower expects the 1,600 square kilometre 3-D seismic programme across the Delta structure to begin in the third week of March 2010. Tower has a 15% carried interest in Namibia.

Bowleven (BLVN) has signed a letter of intent for a rig for its planned drilling campaign on the Etinde permit, offshore Cameroon. The IE-3 appraisal well is expected to spud in April or May.

Plexus Holdings (POS) is expanding its geographic reach to West Africa with a £300,000 contract to supply its POS-GRIP wellhead systems and services to Bowleven for drilling offshore Cameroon.

Hardy Oil and Gas (HDY) has restarted production from the PY-3 field of the CY-OS 90/1 block in the Cauvery Basin, after completion of the repair job on the loading hose.

Gulfsands Petroleum (GPX) has been given the go-ahead by authorities in Syria to develop the Yousefieh oil field, which lies on the company’s 50% owned and operated Block 26. First oil from Yousefieh is anticipated early in April.

Empyrean Energy (EME) has reported that fracture stimulation work on the Kennedy-1H well on the Sugarloaf project in Texas has finished early. The well operator, Texas Crude Energy, had been hoping to frac 14 separate stages inside the well, but has only managed to complete eight.

Strong investor support has caused Aurelian Oil & Gas (AUL) to increase its share placing to €39 million from the €32 million originally planned. Proceeds will be used to fund the first well on the company’s Siekierki gas project in Poland along with up to seven exploration and appraisal wells in the next two years.

Leed Petroleum (LDP) is about to start drilling the Ship Shoal 201 A-6 well in the US, after agreeing a deal with a drilling contractor. Leed has completed the acquisition of the Ship Shoal 202 'A' Platform, and received the go-ahead from authorities to reuse it for the drilling of the A-6 well.

PetroNeft's (PTR) pipeline on Licence 61 in the Tomsk Oblast region of Russia, is on schedule for completion in April 2010 with year-round production starting in the third quarter of the year. PetroNeft also expects to spud the first well of the 2010 nine-well development drilling programme anticipated in early April 2010.

Serica Energy (SQZ) has completed the sale of some of its assets in South East Asia to KrisEnergy Ltd following the announcement of the deal in December. Serica has now received a total of US$105.4 million in cash for the assets.

President Petroleum (PPC) is acquiring a 25% working interest in East White Lake, a producing oil and gas field in Louisiana, USA for an initial cash consideration of US$2.5 million. An additional sum of up to US$1.4 million is payable from cash-flow generated by successful development of the proved undeveloped reserves.

Afren (AFR) is farming-in to a 32.5% interest in OML 115 offshore South East Nigeria, adjoining the Ebok and Okwok development area. Afren will pay an upfront cash cost of US$6 million and for one firm exploration well at an estimated cost of US$30 million. An exploration well is scheduled for H2 2010.

A new round of exploration licensing for oil and gas acreage off the UK coast has been launched by the UK Government. For the first time since 1998, the 26th Licensing Round offers blocks in all areas of the UK seas for new licensing.