http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=6777
"Michael Summers who said that no progress had been made at all during the past 4 years with the present Argentine Government said, 'I can't see the Argentine Government changing its attitude in the short-term and I can't see us changing our attitude. The big issue will be what happens next year when the drilling for oil starts, and what reaction the Argentines will have to that"
Also there is an update on
http://www.bodecott.com/
Recent Activities: November 2005 update.
UK 23rd Round announcement from Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks at the Aberdeen Offshore Europe conference in September.
Great success for Reach Exploration in getting most of their choice blocks in the Moray Firth and elsewhere. How can a basin have only one oilfield?! The others will be difficult to find, but they will most likely be there. We were part of Reach's small 23rd Round team.
Client Faroe Petroleum likewise were successful in their awards. Although not part of their excellent 23rd Round team, we continue supporting Faroe in their acreage and commercial evaluations.
FALKLAND ISLANDS EXPLORATION ACTIVITY
We have been involved in all areas of North Falkland exploration with several clients since before the first licensing round of 1996. Initial drilling results during 1998 were technically, but not commercially successful, i.e. oil was found but not produced. Five of the six wells drilled had shows of hydrocarbons, and the British Geological survey has estimated that between 10 and 100 Billion barrels of oil have been generated from the very rich lacustrine source rock prevalent in the deepest part of the basin.
At a meeting of the Petroleum Exploration Society in Aberdeen not too long ago, one member of the audience proclaimed that "oil will not be produced commercially off the Falklands". This was reminiscent of those who in the late 1960's said they would "drink every drop of oil produced north of 56 degrees in the North Sea". Both basins have already been proved petroliferous. The North Falkland Basin, although smaller than the North Sea in total, is in a similar state of exploration as the North sea was in the 1960's.
The second phase of Falkland Exploration is gathering momentum. We are closely involved with evaluations of all Falkland licence areas through the activities of two clients.
ROCKHOPPER EXPLORATION
During the past few months, Rockhopper Exploration has moved rapidly to snap up a large spread of acreage in the North Falkland Basin. The licence areas approximate 5800 square kilometres at 100% interest, making the company the largest acreage holder in the North Falkland Basin, equivalent to more than 28 North Sea blocks. The evaluation of these areas has progressed rapidly using SMT Kingdom seismic interpretation software.
These are shallow water areas, with much of the area in less than 200 metres water depth, very shallow by world standards. Any exploration success here would be very quick to exploit. The potential commercial value of this acreage as a result is very high, let alone the rising oil price that seems to be heading in one direction. Crude Oil is still cheap at the price relative to any other global commodity.
In order to get a piece of the upcoming drilling action, Rockhopper have farmed in to Desire Petroleum's best prospects in licences 3 and 4, where three wells will be drilled. These wells will be targeted at potential reservoirs between 2000 and 3000 metres within the oil window. There is no guarantee of success, but any shows will stimulate more activity and increase the value of the licences. Many wells were drilled in the North Sea Central Graben before oil shows were found.
Rockhopper's remaining 100%-owned prospects will also be drilled after new seismic, and they are located within very modest water depths between 150 and 450 metres.
The North Falkland Basin is the only Falkland area with 3D seismic. There are two existing 3D surveys on Rockhopper licences, with two further surveys planned.
Rockhopper acreage is summarised as attractive for the following reasons:
Shallow waters are economically attractive for early success.
The last 1998 well drilled to 2960m. in only 11 days.
The basin is a 250 km. long Jurassic-Cretaceous Atlantic rift basin, half of which has never been drilled.
There is a proven MEGA-rich, thick, mature, lacustrine source rock.
Live oil and gas shows were proved in the 1998 wells.
The NFB is a proven petroliferous basin with a working hydrocarbon generation system.
Rockhopper is a partner in 3 upcoming wells.
Many varied plays, prospects and leads over a very wide area.
Shallow water, low cost drilling, benign environment.
The only Falkland area to have 3D seismic - 2 existing surveys and 2 planned.
Exploration stage is North Sea, 1965.
Same water depths as Central Graben, North Sea, similar weather.
Same geology as West Africa and Argentina.
Now that the Rockhopper float has been successfully negotiated, we continue to support their technical push for success.
DESIRE PETROLEUM
Desire is the Operator of the upcoming wells. The best of their eight or nine prospects in licences 3 and 4 will be drilled.
3d interpretation results from continuing work confirm attractive seismic amplitudes, DHI's (Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators) and structural-stratigraphic pre-source rock prospects. These prospects are adjacent to a mature source-rock kitchen which contains one of the richest sapropelic (oil-prone) source rocks known in the world. Drilling beneath the Early Cretaceous source rock is analogous to drilling beneath the Kimmeridge Clay source rock of the North Sea insofar as some of the oil reservoirs are located beneath the source rock. The next three wells will test this untested pre-source play.
We have also assisted Desire recently in researching workstation hardware and software requirements. They are another operator who have opted for Kingdom software.