Bridge Energy (LON:BRDG) (OAX:BRIDGE)
It’s been a very busy week for the new kid on the block Bridge Energy the the Oslo Axess and AIM listed oil and gas exploration and production company announced the discovery of a new oil accumulation by well 211/21-N94, known as the Contender Well, situated in the UK Northern North Sea Block, 211/22a Contender Area. Preliminary estimates indicate an oil bearing reservoir in excess of 65 feet was encountered. Further reservoir evaluation is ongoing. Bridge has a 4% interest in the well. TAQA/60% & operator, Dana Petroleum/20%, Antrim/8.4%, First Oil Expro Limited7.6%. Drilling has also begun at exploration well 16/1-16 on the Asha/Noor prospect in Norway. This multi-target well, located on the western flank of the Utsira High in the Norwegian North Sea has the potential to appraise nearby discoveries; Ivar Aasen and Apollo. The well is being drilled by the Bredford Dolphin semi-submersible rig. The four reservoir target zones are Noor, Mukta, Zechstein and Draupne/Asha with total mean unrisked recoverable resources of approx. 30 million barrels of oil equivalent net to Bridge. Bridge has a 20% interest in the well. Wintershall Norge AS is the operator with 40%. Other partners are E.ON E&P Norge AS and VNG Norge AS both having a 20% share. Bridge also confirmed two Central North Sea licence applications in the UKCS 27th Round had been granted. The licences have been offered to its UK Subsidiary, Bridge Energy UK Limited, and are as follows: Skerryvore (30/12c, 30/13c, 30/18c) – Bridge has a 25% equity interest with Parkmead Group plc as operator. The acreage contains the Skerryvore oil prospect located between the Flyndre and Clyde Fields. The prospect is a well-defined diapiric structure imaged on high quality 3D seismic. Seismic studies are planned in order to optimise the location of the commitment exploration well. 9/9g – Bridge has a 30% equity interest, with MPX (Oil & Gas) Limited as operator. The 9/9g part block contains an extension of the Aragon prospect located in the adjacent part blocks 9/9d,9/14a and 9/15d, in which Bridge also has a 30% equity stake. And today Bridge announced the discovery of a new oil accumulation by well 34/6-2S, known as the Garantiana Well, situated in the Norwegian North Sea PL554. Bridge Energy, is a 20% license partner in PL554. The well penetrated an oil-bearing Cook Formation with good reservoir characteristics. No oil-water contact was encountered. Preliminary results show an oil rate of around 4,000 bbl/day through a 28/64″ choke. Dependent on available rig days, a sidetrack may be drilled with the purpose of defining down flank oil-water contact. Resource volume estimates are pending analyses of the results. What a week and they are still only trading at 140p! High-lighted by the BMD site many weeks ago at the insistence of several of our sources!
Chariot Oil & Gas (AIM:CHAR)
The independent Africa focused oil and gas exploration company, is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Chariot Oil & Gas Investments (Morocco) has entered into a petroleum agreement with the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco for a 75% interest and operatorship in offshore licence Rabat Deep. Rabat Deep is located adjacent to the Company’s recently acquired Loukos and Casablanca / Safi licences and covers an area of 10,782km², giving Chariot an aggregate acreage position of 16,207km² offshore Morocco.
Enegi Oil. (LON:ENG)
Has been offered two UKCS licences. These offers will be the company’s first licences in the UKCS and the intention is to develop them in conjunction with its partner company ABTechnology and its buoy technology. Alan Minty, the chief executive of Enegi, said: “Buoy technology is a game changing technology for the UKCS and we are delighted to have been awarded these blocks with a view to implementing it.”
Exillion Energy (LON:EXI)
Updated this week. Exploration well EWS I – 60 was designed to test a 4.1 sq km north-west extension of the EWS I field. The new discovery contained pre-drill estimates of 2.3 million barrels of possible reserves (Miller and Lents, March 2012 reserve report). The well was spudded on 20th September 2012 and drilled and cemented in 23 days. The well encountered the Jurassic P reservoir at 1,837 metres, confirming 11.9 metres of effective vertical net oil pay. In addition, the well encountered PJC reservoir at 1,853 metres, confirming a further 1.6 metres of net pay. The well flowed water-free oil naturally to the surface with a test flow rate of 767 bbl/day on an 8 mm choke. The well was drilled 0.5 km north-west of Pad 6, and is now connected to our existing production facilities.
Falkland Oil & Gas (LON:FOGL)
Hit a two-week delay in drilling its Scotia well after an equipment malfunction was detected on the blow out preventer. Drilling of the Scotia well, which is the second of a two-well programme by FOGL, had been proceeding to plan and was ahead of schedule by approximately three days. However, a routine test on the blow-out preventer (BOP) revealed an equipment malfunction. The BOP has now been brought to surface in order to replace the failed component. In the light of problems encountered by a previous operator, FOGL had commissioned an extensive and independent examination of the BOP prior to the commencement of drilling. The recent malfunction is related to a part that had been used without problems during the drilling of the Loligo well and had been successfully tested earlier on the Scotia well.
Fastnet Oil & Gas (AIM:FAST)
The recently listed E&P company focused on near term exploration acreage in the Celtic Sea and Africa, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Fastnet Oil and Gas Ireland Ltd, has signed an agreement with WesternGeco Seismic Holdings, the world’s leading geophysical services company, (part of Schlumberger) to provide specialist reprocessing of key prospect-defining 2D seismic data across the Company’s Mizzen Basin licence option area, in the North Celtic Sea, as well as amplitude versus offset and rock physics work. It is expected that this work will be completed early in 2013.
Leni Gas & Oil (LON:LGO)
Announces the final transfer of 100% ownership of the Goudron Field Incremental Production Service Contract onshore south-eastern Trinidad from the current contract owner Cameron Oil and Gas Limited to LGO’s subsidiary Goudron E&P Limited. The IPSC with the Petroleum Company of Trinidad Limited remains in full force and all approvals were already in place to assign the contract and operatorship from COGL to GEPL. Following the signing of the novation agreement on 19 October 2012 the transaction completed immediately and GEPL commenced full-time operations with a formal handover of the field taking place at site on 20 October 2012. Production revenues from the field will commence immediately. LGO recently announced a work-over program of five wells in collaboration with COGL and that work will now continue uninterrupted and will be extended to at least 30 additional wells.
It’s a giant step forward for Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) The company announced this week that they had signed a rig contract for what will be its first operated well. Magnolia, which is an active co-venturer on wells across North Dakota and Oklahoma, has secured a rig to drill its first operated well in Oklahoma into the Mississippi Lime formation. Drilling is expected to commence before the year end at a cost of approximately $729,148. In accordance with standard industry practice, Magnolia has completed a Surface Use Agreement with the relevant surface owner and the site is currently being prepared for drilling. It is anticipated that the spud date for the well will be between 10 November 2012 and the year end.
Max Petroleum (LON:MXP)
Released an operational update on its activities in the Blocks A&E Licence area in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Baichonas West.. The BCHW-1 well at the Baichonas West prospect has begun testing in a Triassic reservoir from depths between 1,184 and 1,190 metres, flowing at a stable rate of 450 barrels of 48 degree API gravity oil per day with no water. This zone was initially reported as Jurassic, but is now believed to be Triassic pending final age determination, and will be produced on test production for 90 days, after which time a second zone will be tested. The results of this test, combined with revised mapping of the structure, indicate that it is a commercial discovery with oil in place of approximately 16 mmbo and expected recovery factors between 20% and 40%.. Eskene North..The Company has decided to move the planned drilling location at Eskene North to another preferred location on the structure. Preparation of the alternate location is expected to take several weeks, but is not expected to hinder the Company’s ability to complete the drilling of its post-salt portfolio prior to March 2013, subject to additional financing for wells beyond those covered by the equity for drilling services agreement with its drilling contractor, Zhanros Drilling, LLP.
New World Oil & Gas (LON: NEW)
Provided an update on drilling operations at the B Crest prospect on the Company’s flagship Blue Creek Project located in the productive Petén Basin in Northwest Belize. Drilling operations at the Blue Creek #2 well are continuing on schedule and under budget at an average rate of 24ft per hour. As at 1300 CST in Belize on 24 October 2012, the Well had drilled to a depth of 4,509ft, having passed through anhydrite, dolomite and limestone sequences in line with the Company’s geologic prognosis. The primary objective of the Well lies at 5,700ft in the mid Cretaceous Y2 interval, 1,300ft below the current depth. The Well remains on course to reach the total depth of 7,000ft on or before 15 November 2012 where it expects to have reached the base of the mid Cretaceous Y2 interval.
Nostra Terra (LON:NTOG)
Announced the spud of their 20% interest in the overall Chisholm Trail Prospect, spearheaded by Ward Petroleum. There will be a well-by-well variance in NTOG’s working interests because of differences in Ward’s primary position in each of the wells. Due to the high interest in this entire play, all available options to participate in the third well were exercised during the forced pooling and election process resulting in a reduction in Nostra Terra’s WI to 12.58% from 20% on this particular well. Notwithstanding the change in the WI, the Board is pleased by the acceleration of drilling in the area, where more wells than originally anticipated are being drilled. The well is expected to take approximately 30 days to drill, followed by completion and initial production testing.
Parkmead Group (LON:PMG)
Has been provisionally awarded six new licences, comprising interests in a total of 25 offshore blocks or partial blocks across the UKCS. Parkmead has also applied for certain licences in the 27th Round within the UKCS Southern Gas Basin, where the company already has operations and drilled the successful horizontal appraisal well through the Platypus gas field this summer. Most of the 27th Round applications pertaining to blocks close to, or in, certain Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs), which include a number of blocks in the Southern Gas Basin, have not yet been awarded by the UK Government. As operator, Parkmead led a major suite of applications for new UK licences across the Central North Sea, Southern North Sea, West of Scotland and West of Shetlands. It said the move reflected its ambitious growth plans to build through exploration in its core area of the North Sea and via acquisition at both an asset and corporate level. Tom Cross, the executive chairman of Parkmead, said: “We are delighted with these extensive new licence awards, which will significantly increase our oil and gas operations on the UKCS.”
PetroNeft Resources (LON:PTR)
Confirmed that its Arbuzovskoye No. 102 well in Russia has delivered an initial flow rate of 540 barrels of oil per day. The news comes just over a week after PetroNeft said it had successfully drilled and logged the well. The flow rate is better than the anticipated 500 bopd (with a 2% water cut) and is the highest ever achieved without fracture stimulation on Licence 61. PetroNeft owns and operates Licences 61 and 67 in Russia’s Tomsk Oblast region. In September, it said the Arbuzovskoye No. 101 well, the first of ten planned new production wells on the Arbuzovskoye oil field, had been successfully completed and brought into production at a stable rate of 310 bopd with less than 3% water cut.Then they quickly negated the good news by placing 216,052,348 new Ordinary Shares at 5p Ordinary Share raising gross proceeds of US$17.25million.
Sound Oil (LON:SOU)
Announced a funding contract for its Nervesa gas project with the Italian engineering company CSTI Srl. Sound Oil is planning to spud the Nervesa appraisal well once final governmental approval has been obtained, which is expected around the end of 2012. Preparations for spud are well advanced with long lead items delivered, land and rig secured, service contracts awarded and site preparation expected to commence soon. Under the terms of the new contract – and assuming the drilling gets government approval – CSTI will fund directly €1.5 million towards the Nervesa appraisal well, which equates to roughly 50% of the remaining spend on the well.
San Leon Energy (LON:SLE)
Has begun drilling the Czasław SL-1 well on the Nowa Sol concession in the Southern Permian Basin The Czaslaw SL-1 is the second exploration well on San Leon’s 100%-held Nowa Sol concession and is focused on the Main Dolomite trend. The first well, the Lelchow SL-1, confirmed an oil find on the concession which is currently undergoing further testing. Oisin Fanning, executive chairman of San Leon, said: “Following the success of the Lelchow SL-1 we have continued with our exciting exploration programme in the Southern Permian Basin with the spud of our second well, Czaslaw. We believe this is a highly prospective area and look forward to providing further updates on both wells in the near future.”
TomCo Energy (LON:TOM)
Has put its US$5 million stake in Red Leaf Resources up for sale – just seven months after making it. The move comes as TomCo looks to shore up its own short and medium term funding requirements in the face of an arduous wait for various environmental approvals to get production in Utah underway. TomCo is planning to use innovative technology called ‘EcoShale’ developed by Red Leaf Resources to unlock unconventional hydrocarbon resources. Since returning to the Alternative Investment Market in 2011 (following two years off the market) the company has firmed up plans to begin developing a project that currently has an indicated resource of 123 million barrels. In March, TomCo invested US$5 million of a total US$100 million in Red Leaf, with oil giant Total E&P picking up the majority stake. Red Leaf, which has its own assets just 15km away from TomCo, is also awaiting regulatory approval to begin development work in partnership with Total.
Trap Oil (LON:TRAP)
Has been provisionally awarded three new traditional licences covering nine new exploration blocks. Trap oil are partnered, in respect of each of the Licence Awards, by Norwegian Energy Company UK.
Valiant Petroleum (LON:VPP)
Has been awarded five licences which are centred around a number of its existing areas in the Central North Sea and West of Shetlands. Valiant’s work commitments on the provisional awards include one firm well and four contingent wells in addition to certain seismic purchase and reprocessing obligations.
