Anadarko primed to plant China probe
Anadarko Petroleum plans to drill its first deep-water exploration well in
China later this year directly south of Husky Energy's giant Liwan gas
discovery.
Anadarko inherited its China assets when it bought Kerr-McGee. The assets
included acreage in and around the producing Caofeidian oil complex plus one
deep-water exploration permit called Block 43/11.
Anadarko said today that during the first quarter of the year it conducted
geological and geophysical studies and interpreted recently-shot 2D seismic
data in Block 43/11. It added that 2D seismic sweeping has resumed and is
expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter.
Preparations are under way to drill a planned 4000-metre exploratory test
during the second half of the year on the LW21-1 prospect.
Block 43/11 lies about 350 kilometres south-east of Hong Kong. The block is
9729 square kilometres in size and in water depth ranging between 1500
metres and 3000 metres.
Bob Daniels, the company's senior vice president of worldwide exploration,
said recently that "south-east Asia is another area that the deep water
has a lot of allure to us...whether it be in Malaysia, up in South China
Sea, or Indonesia".
"When we compare the seismic data from that discovery (Husky's Liwan)
onto our block and do all of our regional work and our petroleum system
work, we think we have that type of potential on our block," said
Daniels.
Anadarko also has other leads and prospects in Block 43/11.
During the first quarter of this year, Anadarko said oil production in the
Caofeidian complex averaged a gross 46,000 barrels of oil per day, and the
jack-up drilling rig Bohai-8 had returned from dry dock to the Caofeidian
11-6/12-1S field to continue development drilling.
The Caofeidian fields are in shallow-water Blocks 04/36 and 05/36, and
partners are operator Anadarko (29.18%), China National Offshore Oil
Corporation Ltd (51%), Newfield Exploration (12%) and Singapore Petroleum
Company (7.82%).
06 May 2008 05:38 GMT
| last updated:
06 May 2008 06:35 GMT
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