World
 
|
Statoil to complete Venezuelan gas exploration by October 2007
Platts
CARACAS
Petroleumworld.com 10 26 06
Norway's Statoil will complete exploration in Block 4 of Venezuela's
Delta Platform by the end of October 2007, a company spokeswoman said
Wednesday.The Venezuelan energy ministry gave the company an eight-month extension
on its exploration license, due to expire in February 2007, after the company
suspended drilling operations last year due to safety concerns over its
Sovereign Explorer drilling rig."From February 2007 on, we have eight months to complete exploration,"
the spokeswoman said.Statoil declined to comment on the progress of the exploration effort,
although Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in a speech Wednesday, said Statoil
"found a gigantic gas field," according to a report by daily newspaper El
Universal.PDVSA officials, at a gas conference last week, declined to discuss
specifics of the find, but called the well promising.Gas from the Delta Platform is expected to be processed at a new LNG
plant, called CIGMA, that PDVSA plans to build in the northwestern city of
Guiria. PDVSA says the plant will start operations in 2010.Statoil is currently drilling the Cocuina 2X well at 200-3,400 meters.
Next, it will return to the Ballena 1X well that it abandoned when it
suspended drilling operations last year. Finally, it will drill a third well,
called Orca.--Jens Gould, newsdesk@platts.com
For more news, request a free trial to Platts Gas Daily at
http://gasdaily.platts.com or subscribe now at
http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=3_39&products_id=41
PLATTS 25 10 06
Copyright ©2006 PLATTS. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels