atocha deal close, page-2

More on the Tuscaloosa Trend...........BP only 5 Nautical Miles away from PYM.


In 1977 Amoco significantly strengthened its onshore oil and gas development position in Louisiana with its first discovery at Port Hudson, near Baton Rouge in an area known as the Tuscaloosa Trend. Wells had to be drilled below 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) to penetrate the productive deep Cretaceous sand. Early discovery wells in the Tuscaloosa Trend led to forecasts that some 6-10 trillion cubic feet of condensate-rich natural gas would ultimately be found in the area. Today, BP is drilling wells at depths greater than 6,700 metres (22,000 feet).
Today, BP controls about 80% of the Trend’s daily production and has been the number one or two onshore Louisiana natural gas producer for the past eight consecutive years. In 2004 BP produced 26,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 80 BP-operated wells within seven BP-operated fields.
Asset manager Mike Cole says that BP’s production level will be sustained in 2005. He notes that a 3-D seismic survey conducted in 2004 will further identify growth opportunities in the Trend.
“The survey covered about 272 square kilometres (105 square miles) of the Trend – the first done in more than 10 years,” he says. “The acquisition of new data and the application of improved processing technology to all our data will provide us a much better picture of the development opportunities within the Trend.”