Calvalley Petroleum Inc., a Calgary-based oil and gas exploration and development company, has arranged all the necessary equipment and supplies for the drilling of the next two exploration wells on Block 9 in the Republic of Yemen.
Calvalley has faced a number of delays this year in Yemen, as a result of the war in Iraq. However, the company, along with its partners Hoodoil and Reliance Industries, has agreed on the location of the next two exploration wells, being identified as Qishn No. 3 and Qishn No. 4.
Both wells will be drilled on good terrain with easy access from the existing road system, according to a company press release. The tender for the drilling services has been granted to Jiangsu Oil Exploration Co. (Joeco) and mobilization of the rig will commence shortly with an anticipated spud date of July 20, 2003. It is anticipated that the second well will spud about one month after the first well.
Calvalley is the operator of Block 9 and retains a 60 percent majority interest. In March 2003 the Yemen Ministry of Oil and Minerals unilaterally granted the company a one-year extension in the First Exploration Period to April 2004, with the result that the company's exploration rights on Block 9 do not expire until April of 2007.
With the completion of these next two exploration wells Calvalley will have substantially completed its work commitments under both the First and Second Exploration Periods.
The company recently commissioned Chapman Petroleum Engineering to evaluate the two discoveries made by Calvalley and to update the 1998 engineering valuation of Block 9. Chapman found both the Hiswah and Auqban discoveries to be commercially viable. In addition, the Chapman assessment identified significantly more reserves than those identified by the earlier study.
To date, three independent reservoir discoveries have been made on Block 9 with four out of the five wells that have been drilled proving the existence of either oil or condensate.
Block 9 is situated approximately 75 kilometer west of the Masila oil fields operated by Nexen and TotalFinaElf, which are currently producing approximately 250,000 BOPD. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
