Chesapeake halts fracking ops at several PA well sites after blowout

After a blowout at natural gas well in a Bradford County, PA last week, Chesapeake Energy will suspend all hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) operations at several of the company’s sites in Pennsylvania. The blowout occurred at the Atgas 2H well during a fracking operation, leading to spilling of thousands of gallons of drilling fluid and water.

According to the Associated Press, thousands of gallons of produced water flowed back out of the well, crossing farm fields and entering a stream. Chesapeake stopped the leak by using materials such as ground up tires and plastic at plug the well.

Chesapeake is working to permanently seal the well and investigate the cause of the blowout.

The company stated that it has suspended fracking operations on seven well sites in Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: Workers were able to replace the damaged wellhead on the well Monday night, April 25. According to Chesapeake, the malfunctioning wellhead was part of the cause of last week's accident.

COSL takes delivery of 12-streamer seismic vessel

China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) has successfully delivered 12-Streamer Seismic Vessel COSL 720 in Shanghai Shipyard Co. Ltd. (Shanghai Shipyard), Chongming Island Base. The ceremony saw attendance of the representatives from COSL, Shanghai Shipyard and their parent companies.

COSL 720 is the first large-scale domestic deep-water seismic vessel invested and constructed by COSL. The vessel will be capable of towing 12 streamers each 8000m long to carry out seismic survey operation. The operational indicators have met the international standards with the capability to perform high-density seismic collection for 50-meter-distance streamer. The vessel can withstand the seismic pressure of 3000PSI (regular collection: 2000PSI), with the endurance of 75 days, designed speed of 16 knots and towing speed of 5 knots, which the speed improved by 30% from the Group's existing seismic vessels and will significantly reduce the mobilization and demobilization time and increase operation efficiency.

As the most advanced deep-water seismic survey vessel built in China so far, COSL 720 is designed to be a safe, highly efficient, environmental-friendly and energy-saving vessel with emphasis on its performance, collection capacity, the equipment stability, energy saving and emission reduction. COSL 720 is equipped with a new generation of seismic collection system, integrated navigation system and lateral control system. Meanwhile, the full set of remote operating system will increase operation efficiency and reduce labor intensity. The vessel is equipped with a complete diesel-electric propulsion system which is able to effectively reduce vessel fuel consumption, vibration and noise. The system also contributes to improve the quality of seismic collection and the comfort of working and living environment for the crew.

After delivery, COSL 720 will commence operation in South China Sea upon completing the collection test of geophysical equipment, the working volume of which is expected to reach 100% in 2011.

Mr. Li Yong, CEO and President of COSL, said, "Global crude oil price picked up from the bottom and hit USD100 per barrel. Oil companies are gradually increasing their demand for oil and gas exploration. This offers good opportunity for the recovery and development of oilfield services, particularly geophysical services, while bringing new requirements for high quality geophysical services in terms of performance of equipment, technical level and work efficiency.

Meanwhile, with China's progressive advancement of deep-water exploration, COSL will also further embark on its deep-water oilfield service. The successful delivery of COSL 720 enhances COSL's competitiveness and equipment for geophysical services, and also improves the company's capability of deep-water services. COSL will continually improve the relevant chains for this service, laying solid foundation for China's deep-water operation."

Ecopetrol announces new discovery in Huila

Ecopetrol informs that it has found the presence of hydrocarbons in the Nunda-1 well, located in the municipality of Tello in Huila province.

The well is part of the Cuisinde Exploration and Exploitation Agreement of 2006 between Ecopetrol and the National Hydrocarbons Agency, ANH in which the company holds a 100% stake.

Drilling at the well began on January 27, 2011, reaching a total depth of 7,371 feet three weeks later, the equivalent of 2.25 kilometers from the surface.

Preliminary testing on the Honda formation showed a flow volume of 318 barrels, with a 71% water cut, yielding an average of 92 barrels of oil per day. The quality of the crude is 30 degrees API.

Ecopetrol will begin appraising the find in the weeks ahead, with extensive tests planned in order to determine the production potential of the Honda formation and the volume of recoverable hydrocarbons.

The discovery opens up a new era for Ecopetrol by branching out to new types of exploration activities involving stratigraphic traps (those in which hydrocarbons accumulate due to variations in the deposit environment) in the Valle Superior del Magdalena and helps increase reserve inventories in this area of the country.

BGP Challenger completes seismic survey offshore Oman

In early 2011, the BGP Challenger successfully performed a 2D seismic survey in eastern offshore of Oman for Circle Oil.

The work area is located in Block 52, and close to the water areas of Somalia and Yemen, the piracy-prone areas. To make sure the project to be operated smoothly, BGP made rigorous security measures and emergency plan, and employed several security personnel from IBS, an international security company.

The acquisition program proved to be extremely challenging. The work area is covered by intensive fishing boats and nets, and islands. Even more frustrating for the BGP Challenger, was the unpredictable position and movement of the boats and nets. The experienced international crew on board coped well and has subsequently achieved excellent productivity.

The client is very impressed with both the productivity and the quality of data acquired by BGP. The BGP Challenger has demonstrated BGP's position as a leading geophysical contractor in the oil and gas industry.

Bowleven makes discovery offshore Cameroon

Bowleven has found additional pay in the Sapele well in the Douala Basin, offshore Cameroon.

The Sapele sidetrack encountered about 75 feet (23 meters) of net hydrocarbon-bearing pay in the Omicron objectives. The well reached a true vertical depth of 11,923 feet (3,634 meters), 14,708 feet (4,483 meters) measured depth, in a water depth of around 82 feet (25 meters) on the MLHP-5 block in the Etinde permit.

Its main objective was to appraise the Deep Omicron oil discovery encountered in the Sapele-1 exploratory well and to intersect the Upper and Lower Omicron objectives. The well intersected 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) of net pay overlying 79 feet (24 meters) of high quality reservoir which has been confirmed as water-bearing.

In the Lower Omicron, the well intersected a log-evaluated hydrocarbon interval that is interpreted to compromise high-quality thinly interbedded reservoir units. The provisional net pay is conservatively estimated at about 36 feet (11 meters) with an average porosity of 17%. Fluid samples acquired during logging activities indicate the presence of light oil/gas condensate as reservoir fluid.

In the Deep Omicron, the sidetrack intersected a log-evaluated hydrocarbon interval that is interpreted to compromise high-quality thinly interbedded reservoir units. Although less well developed at this location and with a corresponding lower net-to-gross ratio than the Sapele-1, the provisional net pay is estimated at about 33 feet (10 meters) with an average porosity of 19%.

In addition, initial interpretation indicates that certain pay intervals identified in the original Sapele-1 well have been eroded at the Sapele-1ST location. It was not possible to recover, believed due to borehole conditions, reservoir fluid samples and pressure data from Deep Omicron. Consequently, pressure communication could not be confirmed from logging activities. The GC tracer however indicates the presence of light, high GOR oil.

Bowleven stated that further evaluation is necessary to fully understand sand distribution within these tertiary fairways.

Reliance makes gas and condensate discovery in Cauvery-Palar region

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced a rich gas and condensate discovery in the very first well drilled in the block CY-PR-DWN-2001/3(CYPR-D6) located in deepwater Cauvery-Palar basin. The Block with an area of about 8,600 sq km was awarded to RIL under the bidding round of NELP-III. RIL currently holds 100% participating interest in this block. This is one of the 23 exploration blocks where BP Exploration (Alpha)
Limited would have a 30% participating interest subject to the Government approval.

The discovery well CYPR-D6-SA1 is located in a water depth of 1,194 m and was drilled to a target depth of 3,81 5m and terminated in crystalline basement. The well encountered multiple hydrocarbon bearing clastic reservoirs in Late Cretaceous section. The presence of rich Gas and condensate has been confirmed by several tests including Modular Dynamic Testing (MDT) and Drill Stem Testing (DST). During DST the well produced 37 million standard cubic feet of gas and 1,100 barrels of condensate per day through a 56/64” choke size from the main zone that has a gross thickness of about 70m (230 ft). Another zone at a shallower level was established through MDT sampling where gas and condensate sample was collected. This discovery namely ’Dhirubhai-53’ has been notified to Government of India and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

Lukoil, Bashneft partner to develop R.Trebs and A.Titov fields

OAO LUKOIL and OAO ANK Bashneft (principal shareholder - Sistema JSFC), signed an agreement in Moscow to establish a joint venture and stipulate conditions for the development of two fields named after Roman Trebs and Anatoly Titov.

According to the agreement, ОАО LUKOIL will purchase 25.1% of an ANK Bashneft subsidiary, while the license and subsoil use rights for R.Trebs and A.Titov fields will be re-issued in favor of this subsidiary. In its turn, the joint venture will purchase from OAO LUKOIL 29 exploration wells located in the license area.

The parties also agreed to transport the oil from R.Trebs and A.Titov fields via the Varandey Oil Export Terminal owned by OAO LUKOIL to the Barents Sea coast, where the crude will be loaded into tankers.

The parties will consider supplying the produced associated petroleum gas to the energy centre of the Yuzhnoye-Khylchuyu field, which is developed by ООО Naryanmarneftegaz (a joint-venture of ОАО LUKOIL - 70% and ConocoPhillips - 30%). The associated petroleum gas will be used for generation of electric power to support the activities of the production units at R.Trebs and A.Titov fields.

In February of 2011, ОАО ANK Bashneft obtained a license for a federal-level site of subsurface resources, including R.Trebs and A.Titov oil fields, for a term of 25 years. The license area, 2,151 square kilometers in size, is located in the Nenets Autonomous District. The total recoverable oil reserves of commercial categories (С1+С2) located within the license areas of R.Trebs and A.Titov fields, as booked in the state balance sheet, reach 140.1 million tons.