Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras could be forced to pay 15.5 billion reais ($9.8 billion) in back taxes to the Brazilian government, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported Friday.
The charge could hurt the company's earnings over the coming years as Petrobras did not make any provision for this expense, the newspaper said.
Brazil's Secretariat of the Federal Revenue charged the payment of several taxes including income tax and social contribution over net profit. It argues that Petrobras paid less than it should or did not pay at all some of the taxes.
Petrobras, led by chief executive Jose Sergio Gabrielli, has appealed. The company confirmed that was it charged by the secretariat, but argued it had paid the taxes according to the law, Reuters quoted the newspaper as saying.
Nobody at Petrobras’ office in Rio de Janeiro was immediately available to comment.
The company posted its highest profit ever in the fourth quarter of 2010, with net income soaring 38% on financial earnings and lower expenses.
With regard to exploration, we thought it appropriate to provide an update on the Paradise prospect in Ghana. As we have previously commented, we are drilling this prospect in 6,038 feet of water on the deepwater Tano Cape Three points block. Hess is carrying 100% of the well costs and has a 90% working interest. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation has the remaining 10% interest.
While results are preliminary, intermediate wire line logs indicate that we have thus far encountered 370 feet of net hydrocarbon pay in 2 separate intervals. Our current plan is to drill an additional 1,100 feet to test a third stratigraphic interval, reaching a total depth of approximately 16,400 feet.
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- Canacol Energy Ltd. ("Canacol" or the "Corporation")(TSX VENTURE:CNE)(BVC:CNEC) provides the following update of the Apoteri K-2 ("K-2") exploration well on the Takutu Block in Guyana. The K-2 well reached the programmed total measured depth of 9,812 feet within the Apoteri Formation, the primary target of the well, on April 20, 2011. The top of the Apoteri Formation was encountered at 8,300 feet measured depth ("ft md"), with light oil and gas shows encountered from 8,300 to 9,376 ft md. Reservoir quality in this zone however is poor based on openhole logs and drilling indicators. Three drill stem tests ("DST's") were performed in this interval, one was a mechanical failure and the other two were mechanically successful but failed to recover any reservoir fluids, indicating very tight reservoir.
Starting at 9,764 through to 9,812 ft md mud losses of up to 3.6 barrels per minute were encountered, indicating the presence of a significantly fractured reservoir zone within the Apoteri Formation in proximity to the main bounding fault. A DST was performed across this fractured interval on April 22, 2011, testing approximately 1,500 barrels of formation water per day with no trace of oil. Although excellent reservoir quality was encountered in this interval of the Apoteri Formation, the fractured reservoir appears to have been penetrated below the oil – water contact, defined by the interval of oil and gas shows higher up in the section between 8,300 and 9,376 ft md.
The Company completed the 15-36 well using multi-stage acid fracture technology on April 2, 2011 and initiated flow back from the well on April 3, 2011. During the first seven and fifteen days of testing the 15-36 well flowed at average gross rates of 2,145 boe/d (86% light oil) and 1,825 boe/d (86% light oil), respectively. Prior to being shut in for an initial pressure build-up the 15-36 well had cumulative production of 27,600 boe comprised of 23,700 bbl of 40 APIo light oil and 24 mmcf of liquids rich natural gas.
CALGARY - Sure Energy Inc. (TSX:SHR) announced Monday that it has closed an acquisition in the Virginia Hills area of Alberta for $7.5 million.
The acquisition includes 120 barrels of oil equivalent per day, including 40 barrels of oil per day.
"More importantly it augments a smaller acquisition that the company completed in January 2011 which exposes the company to a potential new Viking horizontal resource play," Sure Energy said in a release.
Sure Energy now owns a total of 44,320 gross acres (28,382 net acres) of developed and undeveloped land in the Virginia Hills area. The properties produce 160 barrels of oil equivalent per day, including 72 barrels of oil and liquids.
As well as the potential Viking oil play, the company will also have exposure to an emerging Beaverhill Lake horizontal oil resource play, exposure to a series of shallow gas plays and will assume ownership in a Gething oil unit.
In our release last night, we updated our 2011 capital investment program to an estimated $1.9 billion. This is $200 million higher than our beginning-of-year estimates, and the primary drivers behind the increase are as follows:
first, a large portion of the increase relates to new and ongoing leasing of acreage in an undisclosed resource play. Our expansion into this area actually began in 2010. Although we felt it was prudent to include in our planned expenditures, we are not yet ready to disclose our position in this area. We will provide additional details to you later this year.
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada - Trading Halt - Second Wave Petroleum Inc. - SCS
The initial contract term is for drilling three exploration wells for a minimum of 180 days with a base day rate of $423,500. TOTAL may extend the term by exercising up to four options. The first two options may be exercised to complete up to three additional wells at the same day rate. The third and fourth options may be exercised to complete up to six additional wells at an escalated day rate. The fee for rig mobilization from Singapore to Brunei is $3.5 million.
IRELAND is poised for a massive auction of off-shore exploration rights as the country's biggest ever drilling programme kicks off.
The emergence of a thriving oil province off the coast of Ireland could lure operators away from the North Sea where they have been hit with a new windfall tax. A major oil find would also help Ireland recover from its financial crisis.
Dublin is preparing to issue a new round of exploration licences for a vast swathe of the Atlantic margins to the West of Ireland. Up for grabs are 996 full blocks and 58 part blocks, over an area of about 252,500 sq km. The licensing round kicks off at the end of May and is expected to attract international interest.
Resources yet to be discovered could top 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, experts say.
Providence Resources, listed in Dublin and London, is about to embark on a $500 million (£306 million) offshore drilling programme, the biggest in Ireland's history.
Chief executive Tony O'Reilly Jr, the son of the Irish billionaire of the same name, said: "It is the last, great, unexplored frontier. In five years, there will be an oil industry in Ireland."
He added: "I expect the tax changes in the UK to drive a little more interest [in offshore Ireland]. If the UK doesn't water down the proposals it will drive more people to Ireland."
Providence, 20 per cent of which is owned by the O'Reilly family, plans to drill 10 wells across six basins between this summer and 2013, with heavyweight partners that include America's ExxonMobil.
The oil minnow will explore in the Celtic Sea off the southeast coast, off Dublin, off Northern Ireland and off Ireland's west coast in deep water.
High oil prices, improved infrastructure, and enhanced technology will allow Providence to look again at prospects previously regarded as not commercially viable.
The first test for the explorer will come later this summer when it re-enters Barryroe, a Seventies' oil discovery in the Celtic Sea.
Its Dalkey Island prospect, not far from Dublin, is similar in profile to Britain's oil-rich Morecambe Bay.
The potential discovery that has attracted the most interest is Dunquin, off the west coast, in which ExxonMobil and Italy's Eni hold 80 per cent.
A big find could also help revive the Celtic Tiger by bringing inward investment into the debt-laden country, as well as hefty tax revenues. O'Reilly said: "Look at how Aberdeen has exploded."
A0297 (4-28-011) 100% PARAMOUNT RESOURCES LTD. 93,235.20 364.20
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Colombia stocks fell Monday as shares of leading local oil companies were hurt by lower global oil prices and data showing exploration wells in Colombia came up dry last quarter.
The IGBC index, which encompasses the Colombian stock market's blue-chip shares, posted a 1.17% decline to close at 13938.08 points. It was the first time the index fell below 14000 in more than a month. For the year, the index is down 10%.
Shares of state-controlled energy firm Ecopetrol (ECOPETROL.BO) fell 1.77% to COP3,605, while the price for Canada-based Pacific Rubiales (PRE.T), which operates the largest oil field in Colombia, dropped 2.21% to COP51,360.
Crude oil futures tumbled by a few dollars per barrel Monday on concerns over ratings agency Standard and Poor's decision to cut its outlook on U.S. government debt.
Also hurting the share prices of oil companies in Colombia were data from the government's oil-licensing agency ANH that showed exploratory wells by firms including Ecopetrol and Rubiales had a 0% success rate during the first quarter.
Of 38 exploratory wells, 26 were still being tested, 12 were confirmed dry and none was deemed a producing well. For all of 2010, the success rate on exploratory wells was 58%, and was a reported 72% during the first three months of last year.
Meantime, the Colombian peso retreated slightly Monday, closing at COP1,800.00 for $1 from COP1,798.25 on Friday, according to central bank data.
The yield on the benchmark, peso-denominated 2020 bond stood at 8.192% Monday from 8.150% a day earlier.
Natural gas-powered rigs release about 50 percent fewer emissions into the air than do diesel rigs, and are cheaper to operate, Schopp said.
Diesel fuel can cost up to $5,000 a day for a rig, and natural gas about $1,500, he said.
“We can save more than $3,000 a day on fuel. We love it, we think it’s great,” Schopp said.
Hamilton, Bermuda, April 8, 2011 - Seadrill has through its affiliate Sea Dragon de Mexico settled the final agreement with Pemex Exploracion y Produccion ("Pemex") for the provision of the ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig West Pegasus (previously Seadragon I). The five-year assignment in Mexico has a fixed operating dayrate for the first two years, and the dayrate will be adjusted annually thereafter based on market conditions. Estimated contract value is approximately US$850 million (excluding mobilization fee) assuming a constant dayrate over the five year term.
Hamilton, Bermuda, April 11, 2011 - Seadrill has exercised an option to build a new ultra-deepwater dual derrick drillship at the Samsung yard in South Korea. Total project price is estimated at US$600 million (includes project management, drilling and handling tools, spares, capitalized interest and operations preparations). The delivery is scheduled for the third quarter 2013.
Hamilton, Bermuda, April 12, 2011- Seadrill has been awarded an 18 month contract by Murphy Sabah Oil Co Ltd for the semi tender rig West Menang to operate on the Kikeh Spar deepwater field in Malaysia. Estimated contract value is approximately US$100 million (including mobilization and modification of approximately US$14 million), and the commencement is scheduled for later this quarter.
Seadrill has also exercised an option to build a new tender barge at the COSCO Nantong Shipyard in China. The new unit, T17, is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter 2013. Total project price is estimated at US$115 million, which includes project management, drilling and handling tools, spares and capitalized interest.
Hamilton, Bermuda, April 13, 2011 - Seadrill has entered into an agreement to sell the newly built jack-up drilling rig West Juno to an undisclosed buyer incorporated in UK for a total consideration of US$248.5 million.
1. Ollanta Humala 31.7%
2. Fujimori 23.5%
3. Kuczynski 18.7%
4. Alejandro Toledo 15.5%
"The report concludes that in Central’s Southern Georgina Basin permit applications, there is a total “mean” prospective recoverable resource of 5 billion barrels of oil and 33 trillion cubic feet of gas over a CTP net acreage position of 6,000,000 acres, (subject to the granting of the permits concerned, EPA 132 and ATPs 909,911 and 912)"
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said today that permits granted to explore potential shale fields in France must be cancelled and that the whole issue must be reviewed from the start.
A joint French Ministry press release issued on February 11,
2011, indicates that Vermilion is currently producing
approximately 63 boe/d from two previously stimulated vertical
wells in the Liassic shale in France. VET has approximately
176,000 net acres of land in the Paris basin and is in the process
of acquiring rights to up to 636,000 additional net acres.
Summary of the Acquisitions
Through the Acquisitions, Surge is acquiring 100 bbl/d (2010 exit rate) of high quality, high netback, light oil production, 6,000 net acres of highly prospective land in the Spearfish light oil resource play adding 205 gross (120 net) horizontal drilling locations and greater than 100,000 acres of additional, high working interest, undeveloped land for total consideration of $21.5 million in cash (subject to customary closing adjustments). The assets will be acquired by Surge Energy USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Surge Energy Inc. After closing both transactions, Surge will have approximately 329 gross (231 net) horizontal Spearfish drilling locations in Manitoba and North Dakota.
The 6,000 net acres of highly prospective Spearfish lands are located directly south of the Waskada and Goodlands Spearfish oil fields, immediately adjacent to the Canada/USA border. Based on existing vertical well producers and the proximity to Goodlands, Surge characterizes the acreage as being within the sweet spot of the Spearfish trend with internally estimated Discovered Petroleum Initially In Place (DPIIP) of 10 to 15 mmbbls of oil per section. Management believes the acreage can be effectively exploited by drilling 205 gross (120 net) horizontal wells resulting in internally estimated net oil reserves of 7.4 mmbbls (36 degree API). On portions of the same acreage, Surge has also identified additional light oil upside in the underlying Madison Formation (Mississippian) with internally estimated DPIIP of 1.5 to 4.5 mmbbls per section. This formation has traditionally been developed with vertical wells but may have the potential to be further exploited using conventional horizontal wells.
On the remaining undeveloped land, which consists of more than 100,000 net acres, management believes the Basal Spearfish has significant potential as a light oil resource play and could likely be exploited with vertical wells or conventional horizontal wells. Surge estimates the Total Petroleum Initially In Place (TPIIP) of the Basal Spearfish to range between 1.5 and 3 mmbbls of oil per section; and if tested successfully, the play could cover up to 20 percent of the undeveloped land base. The Madison Formation also has potential as a secondary target with similar TPIIP per section and could be exploited with verticals wells and conventional horizontal wells.
Apr 6, 2011
By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 6 – FX Energy Inc., Salt Lake City, will reenter and deepen a well in northwestern Montana and take samples from the Lodgepole, Bakken, Nisku, and Duperow formations at 4,400-5,500 ft.
The company, which plans to plug the well and keep its findings confidential, said the deepening is the first step in evaluating the potential of the Bakken trend on its holdings. FX Energy hopes to expand its position and is talking with other companies.
The well is in Cut Bank field, which lies in Glacier, Pondera, and Toole counties, Mont. Deepening from the well’s current depth of 3,216 ft will help the company evaluate the hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide potential on its northern Montana acreage.
¨TELLUS - ANOTHER OIL DISCOVERY IN PL338
Lundin Norway AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundin Petroleum AB (Lundin Petroleum), operator of production licence 338, has completed well 16/1-15 on the Tellus prospect as an oil discovery. The well has been successfully tested and a comprehensive logging and coring program has been acquired. The well will now be sidetracked to appraise the Tellus discovery to ensure it will be included in the Luno development program.
Oil was proven in a 50 meter column including a 3 meter thick lower Cretaceous sandstone with excellent reservoir quality overlying porous, fractured basement. The oil is of the same type as found in Luno, and the Tellus discovery is most likely a northern extension of the Luno field.
Two successful reservoir tests have been completed. The first test was perforated in a fractured basement interval and produced 650 BOPD, through a 40/64” choke. This is the first successful full scale basement test on the Norwegian continental shelf. The second test was perforated in the overlying sandstone interval and produced 3900 BOPD through a 40/64” choke. This test showed very good flow properties and good pressure support.
An estimate of the discovered resources will be announced once the sidetrack has been completed.
Lundin Petroleum is the operator of PL338 with 50 percent interest. Partners are Wintershall Norge ASA with 30 percent and RWE Dea Norge AS with 20 percent interest.
Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO of Lundin Petroleum comments:”We are very pleased with this latest discovery which has proven a likely extension of the Luno field. The location of the Tellus discovery to the Luno field will allow us to fast track the development of Tellus by including it into the Luno development plan.The basement discovery is also material and has the potential to open further prospectivity in the Greater Luno area and provides us with excellent data in relation to the earlier Luno South basement discovery.”
The term ’basement rocks’ generates a variety of definitions by geologists depending on the specific sedimentary basin discussed as well as the individual’s experience in that area (Koning, 2003). The “standard” definition of basement can be found in the classic paper by Lands et al (1960) which stated ‘the only major difference between basement rock and the overlying sedimentary rock oil deposits is that in the former case the original oil-yielding formation (source rock) can not underlie the reservoir’.
Maersk in Samsung drillship order
Maersk Drilling is making its debut drillship splash after confirming an order for two drillships at Samsung Heavy Industries...
