Argentina to begin drilling exploratory well in Falklands area

Argentina is preparing to commence exploratory drilling in the South Atlantic's Falkland Basin just over a year after British supported exploratory drilling began in the disputed area.

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner advised through aides that the exploration operation will begin in December and intends to increase its military presence in the area with naval reinforcements to provide security for the upcoming drilling activities, since it sees the British Navy's presence in the area as "neo-colonialism" and "occupation" by a foreign power, while the UK justifies its presence as protective of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands as a British Overseas Territory.

The site of the initial well or wells is said to be about halfway between the Malvinas, as the Falkland Islands are known in Argentina, and Tierra del Fuego. To that end, the government has contracted a semisubmersible drilling rig from Swedish company Stensa that is capable of operating in South Atlantic weather conditions. Built to stand ten-meter waves, it is dynamically positioned and has four independent turbines. It will be operating in waters 1,500 meters in depth and will be drilling to a total depth said to exceed 9,843 ft. The drillsite will be the southernmost location of exploratory drilling in Argentina.

Reportedly, Argentina intends to commence its exploration with one or more wells to be drilled by a consortium that includes Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) de Argentina, a subsidiary of Repsol: Pan American Energy, a joint venture of BP (60%) and Bridas (40%); and Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras).

Fugro Airborne Surveys to acquire Falcon data for Beach Petroleum

Fugro Airborne Surveys has been contracted by Beach Petroleum (Tanzania) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Beach Energy Ltd., for the acquisition and processing of Airborne Gravity Gradiometer (AGG) and High-Resolution Airborne Magnetic (HRAM) data obtained using the FALCON AGG system.

The survey, consisting of approximately 27,000 line kilometers, commenced September 9, and will take approximately three months to acquire the data. The survey will be flown over a 7,160-sq-km block covering the southern portion of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania.

Naturally occurring seeps and surface slicks are well known on Lake Tanganyika, and significant hydrocarbon discoveries have been made in the Ugandan portion of the Eastern African Rift Zone.

The FALCON AGG system is the only gravity gradiometry system specifically designed and built for airborne use and provides the highest resolution airborne gravity data.

Cairn makes new discovery offshore Greenland

Cairn Energy struck both gas and oil with the Alpha-1S1 well drilled in the Sigguk Block about 175 km offshore Disko Island, west Greenland. The Alpha-1S1 well was drilled to 4,358 m in volcanic sections with the drillship Stena Forth; the well is now being deepened. The company reported gas shows in silty and volcanic sections over several hundreds of meters and oil has been observed intermittently over a 400-m section in the volcanic and volcano-clastic intervals of the well.

Cairn has plugged and abandoned its T8-1 well, which did not encounter hydrocarbons of a commercial volume. The well costs of $84.2 million excluding demobilization costs have been written off. The T4-1 exploration well, third in the Cairn campaign, is drilling ahead at 1,900 m and is located 100 km north of the Alpha well site and T8 site.

Iran-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline (IPI)

Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI), 2700 km, pipeline is aimed to transfer gas from Iran's South Pars fields in the Persian Gulf to Pakistan's major cities of Karachi and Multan and then further to Delhi, India, with an estimated value of USD 7 billion.

Location	Iran-Pakistan-India - IR
	Investment	7,000,000,000 USD
	Announced	2/15/2002
	Completion	12/15/2015
	Scope	Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project (also called peace pipeline) was aimed at constructing a 1,620-mile (2700 km) pipeline from Iran's South Pars fields in the Persian Gulf to Pakistan's major cities of Karachi and Multan and then further to Delhi, India. Because of Iran is the most geographically convenient supplier of gas to both countries; Iran is offering to cover 60 percent of the construction costs of the pipeline. The total length of 2700 km project would run 1100 km in Iran and 1000 km to Pakistan and in case of agreement with India it will continue 600 km in Indian Territory. This project is expected to greatly benefit India and Pakistan, which do not have sufficient natural gas to meet their rapidly increasing domestic demand for energy. A land-based pipeline would be four times cheaper than any other option, even after taking into account transit fee payments to Pakistan. Pakistan could earn about $200-$500 million annually in transit fees from the pipeline and also would be able to purchase natural gas from the pipeline. The pipeline can carry 110 million cubic meters of gas a day. 50Mln cm meets domestic needs of Iran and the remaining 60Mln cm will go to Pakistan. Iran will initially transfer 30 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan, but will eventually increase the gas transfer to 60 million cubic meters per day.

Development Milestones

	2/21/2009	Iran has increased the price of natural gas it plans to sell to India through Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline to USD 7.2 per mBtu, which makes it the most expensive fuel in the country as of date. Besides, India would have to pay USD 1.1-1.2 per mBtu in transportation cost and transit fee for wheeling the gas through Pakistan, making it the costliest gas in the country, so India had lost interest in the project because it considered that the price proposed by Iran was too high.
	3/21/2009	Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved a rationalised gas import price equivalent to 80 percent of the international crude oil price, removing the final obstacle in the $7.8 billion gas pipeline project with Iran.
	4/9/2009	Pakistan Federal Cabinet accorded approval to the construction of Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline and gave the go ahead for purchase of 750 million cubic feet gas from Iran to fulfill the growing local requirements.
	5/25/2009	Iran and Pakistan signed an initial agreement for a USD 7.5bn Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
	6/5/2009	Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project has been formally signed in Istanbul. The agreement was signed between National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and Pakistani Interstate Gas Company (PIGC).
	8/11/2009	900 km out of 1100 km in Iran has been constructed, with a cost of $700 m.
	1/23/2010	Iran and Pakistan have resolved all issues concerning the long pending IPI pipeline and both the countries are likely to sign a deal soon.
	3/17/2010	Iran and Pakistan have signed a deal paving the way for construction to start on the IPI gas pipeline. Under the terms of the deal, Iran will supply 750 million cubic feet a day of gas to Pakistan for 25 years.
	3/30/2010	China has expressed its keen interest to invest of $2.5 billion in Iran - Pakistan Gas pipeline, it is interested to extend the Gas Pipeline Project into its area.
	3/31/2010	India proposed dialogue with Iran to discuss impediments in implementation of the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. India has been boycotting formal talks on the project since 2007 over security concerns.
	4/11/2010	Designing and construction of remaining part of the Iranian sector of Peace Pipeline will start as of May 2010. The 900 km, 42 inch diameter (IP) gas pipeline will run from the Assaluyen gas field in southern Iran to Pakistan. Requiring a total investment of $US 3.2 billion, the IP pipeline will have a capacity of 750 MMcm/a.
	5/16/2010	India has invited Iran for resumption of dialogue on the long discussed IPI project but Tehran is yet to respond. India has proposed a meeting of India-Iran Joint Working Group between May 23-28 in New Delhi but Tehran has not yet confirmed the dates.
	5/28/2010	Iran and Pakistan signed a "sovereign guarantee" agreement paving the way for the completion of Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline. The groundwork of the project would start soon, as the paper work had been completed.
	6/13/2010	Iran and Pakistan formally signed a deal, which commits the Islamic republic to supplying its eastern neighbor Pakistan with natural gas from 2014.

Lane Energy Poland and Schlumberger deliver first shale gas well in Baltic Basin

Lane Energy Poland and Schlumberger have announced an update on the first exploration shale gas well evaluating the shales in the Baltic Basin of Northern Poland. In addition, drilling on a second well in the area is at an advanced stage.

The drilling program operated by Lane Energy constitutes an important milestone for shale gas in Europe. Łebień LE1 is the first of two-wells that Lane is drilling in the onshore Baltic Basin region. Total depth was reached in record time, including coring operations of the target shales. Drilling on the second well, Łęgowo LE1, began on August 27 and operations are proceeding on schedule.

“This is the first time exploration wells have been drilled in the Baltic Basin of Northern Poland specifically to evaluate the potential of shale gas production. Lane is delighted that the mix of locally provided and Schlumberger-managed services helped to deliver the first well under budget and under time,” said Kamlesh Parmar, Lane Energy Poland Country Manager.

Schlumberger will continue to deliver a range of services for both wells, including drilling, logging and cementing. M-I SWACO, a Schlumberger company, is providing drilling fluid services. All services were completed on the Łebień LE1 well with no NPT and in full compliance with local and international standards.

“This is a landmark project in the development of shale gas in Europe,” said Chris Hopkins, vice president, Unconventional Resources, Schlumberger. “To ensure its success, we assigned a local project manager who was responsible for the seamless integration of all services on site. With ready access to the extensive shale gas expertise already gained by Schlumberger colleagues in North America, we were able to apply the knowledge and lessons learned in other plays to best affect results delivered here.”

Schlumberger will be providing Completion, Stimulation and Well Testing Services during the production evaluation phase of the operations. The Completion program has been submitted to the Polish Mining Authority and Completion operations are scheduled for October.

Shell awards Duco with seven-year umbilical contract for North Sea projects

Shell Upstream Europe has awarded Technip’s subsidiary Duco Ltd. a seven-year framework agreement contract for the supply of umbilicals for its southern and central North Sea projects. The contract covers engineering, procurement, project management and associated services for the fabrication and loadout of thermoplastic umbilicals up to 17 km in length.

Combined projects may require an average of over 15-30 km of thermoplastic umbilicals per year based on business planning estimates from 2011 to 2017. The umbilical systems and thermoplastic hoses will be manufactured by Duco Ltd. in its primary business facilities in Newcastle, United Kingdom.

Gazprom discovers new Kirinsky block field with 50 Tcf potential

Gazprom discovered a new field in the Kirinsky block explored within the Sakhalin III project.

A natural gas inflow was reported during the prospecting activities in the exploratory well No.1 drilled to the depth of 2,795 meters. Between 2010 and 2013 it is projected to perform a follow-up exploration and estimation of the field reserves.

Gazprom performs geological exploration within the Sakhalin III project as stipulated by the state-run Development Program for an integrated gas production, transportation and supply system in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, taking into account potential gas exports to China and other Asia-Pacific countries. The Program was approved by the Russian Federation Industry and Energy Ministry in September 2007. Gazprom was appointed by the Russian Government as the Program execution coordinator.

Gazprom holds subsurface use licenses for the Kirinsky, Vostochno-Odoptinsky, Ayashsky blocks and the Kirinskoye field (located within the Kirinsky block) explored as part of the Sakhalin III project.

Sakhalin III gas reserves and resources are estimated at some 50 trillion cubic feet.

Sakhalin III gas will be fed into the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission system.