drilling update: mauritania, page-50

re: drilling update: labeidna exploration well in Hi H,

No luck either. I guess an update of the map is in progress.

WPL. Agree! As operators, who knows what they are keeping from the rest of the JV partners. I'd like to think CSEMI was used over Sotto but we have heard very little as usual. I would have much preferred to see Bogue tested as the Sotto prospect appears to be in an isolated sand channel if you look at the November 04 AGM Presentation. Perhaps Bogue had a strong response from the CSEMI data. Maybe WPL opted for Sotto to test prospectively further South and keep a lid on things as we've come to expect. Very surprised we haven't had a change of substantial holder notice myself as it certainly appears as if sellers have been soaked up quietly over the last few weeks.

"This well is expected to yield valuable information about the southern part of PSC’s A and B and if successful will extend the area of the prospective Miocene basin.

Also worth noting continued success in Angola over the last few weeks. It will be interesting to have an update of the current run of successes attributed to CSEMI technology. Last article published in December 04 stated 13 out of 13 and it seems a new discovery has been made every other week following news items.



Statoil Announces Eighth discovery in Angolan Block 31
Thursday, August 11, 2005

Yet more oil has been found in block 31 off Angola, which is operated by BP and Angolan state oil company Sonangol and where Statoil holds a 13.33 per cent interest. This eighth discovery in the acreage was made with the Astraea-1 wildcat drilled from the Jack Ryan drill ship to a total measured depth of 3,511 metres in 1,496 metres of water. Astraea lies 10 kilometres south-east of the Palas field, found earlier this year.. Other discoveries in block 31 are Plutão, Saturno, Marte, Venus, Ceres and Juno.
The well was tested at a rate of 6,513 barrels of oil per day. In addition to the block 31 acreage, Statoil has a 13.33 per cent interest in nearby Angolan blocks 15 and 17. The other licensees in block 31 are BP with 26.67 per cent, ExxonMobil 25 per cent, Sonangol 20 per cent, Marathon Petroleum 10 per cent and Total five per cent.

also

"Esso acquired the lease on Block 15 in 1994, began drilling in 1997 and, with the aid of ExxonMobil’s proprietary seismic-imaging and reservoir-modeling technology, found oil the following year. In 2000, nearly every well was a discovery, and estimated resources climbed to 3.5 billion barrels."

http://www.exxon.mobil.com/Corporate/Newsroom/Publications/TheLamp_3_2005/story2B.asp


Cheers,
xmagx