Argentine company strikes gas in Magallanes Region
MERCOPRESS
MONTEVIDEO
Petroleumworld.com
08 30 07
Argentine
oil corporation Geopark Holdings Ltd announced Tuesday
it had discovered gas in one of the several exploratory
wells drilled in Chile’s extreme south region of
Magallanes.
However the corporation also cautioned that further tests
are needed to determine the real dimension of the resource
found in the Pampa Larga 12 well, belonging to the Fell
block from the Springhill formation.
“According to current tests the well has a primary
daily production of 3.1 million cubic feet of gas. But
further additional production trials will be needed to
determine daily flow volumes and extent of the reservoir”,
pointed out a Geopark release.
“We’ve begun engineering and construction
tasks for the new gas pipeline (approximately 6 kilometers
long), which is expected to link the well to the main infrastructure
sometime next month”.
Geopark target is to drill eight new wells in Chile and
Argentina. Currently the company is involved in two deposits
in the extreme south of Chile and four more areas are in
the waiting list.
In Argentina the drilling program is scheduled to begin
September in Zanja Dinero.
“We are very pleased with the results of the Pampa
Larga drilling. We have a considerable inventory of locations
where to drill both in Chile and Argentina”, said
Gerald O’Shaughnessy, president of Geopark.
“We are looking forward to an active period of exploratory
drilling and development of resources during the coming
twelve months”, he added.
GeoPark
is a privately owned company headquartered in Buenos
Aires and is engaged in the exploration, exploitation,
development and production of oil and gas in Argentina
and Chile. The Company was founded in 2002 by Gerald O’Shaughnessy
and James F. Park, who own about 67% of GeoPark.
O’Shaughnessy
and Park have combined oil and gas experience of over
55 years in countries such as Russia,
Guatemala, Yemen, China and the United States.
The
company’s fields are located in the provinces
of Santa Cruz and Mendoza (Argentina) and in the Magallanes
region (Chile). GeoPark is managed from its main office
in Buenos Aires, with field offices in Rio Gallegos (Argentina)
and Punta Arenas.
The Fell block in Chile is located in the Magallanes basin
(also known as the Austral basin) and is 90% owned by GeoPark,
with the remaining interest held by La Empresa Nacional
de Petroleo (ENAP), the Chilean state-owned oil and gas
company.
Geopark current oil and gas production is about 371 barrels
a day (b/d) and 165,000 cubic feet per day, respectively.
The company has a projected 80 million US dollars capital
expenditure program which aims to increase oil and gas
production to about 5,000 b/d and 40 million cubic feet
per day (mmcf/d), respectively, by December 2008.
This
capital expenditure program is expected to entail the
drilling of about 100 primary wells, the completion
of approximately 50 work-overs and the installation of
production and separation facilities, and product flow
lines throughout the company’s properties.
Geopark
is supported by the World Bank’s International
Finance Corporation.
MERCOPRESS
August
29, 2007
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