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A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF REGIONAL & LOCAL OIL AND GAS NEWS

'The Oilpatch' Newspaper - Circulation over 5,000 - distributed to oil and gas producers, plant personnel and managers, purchasers, oilfield services operators, suppliers and manufacturers.

For Advertising, Subscriptions or Information Please Contact:
P.O. Box 6870, Edson, AB T7E 1V2
Phone: 780-723-5787; Fax: (780) 723-5725

Published by The Weekly Anchor

April, 2008 Issue

 

BRIEFS

 

RUNNING FOX TO TAKE ON ALBERTA OILFIELD SERVICES COMPANY

Running Fox Resource has entered an agreement to acquire an Alberta oilfield services company.  The Alberta company brings strong personnel and technical expertise, and a significant equipment and asset base to Running Fox.  This transaction also adds in-house personnel and specialty equipment capabilities for growth in Running Fox’s oil and natural gas exploration and production unit.  Running Fox will acquire 100 per cent of the private company and operate it as a subsidiary.

 

EAGLE STAR ESTABLISHES COMMERCIAL GAS PRODUCTION AT PEACE RIVER WELL

Eagle Star Petroleum Corp. has successfully tested the well located in north western Alberta in the Peace River area.

Following receipt of the test results and data provided by the Farmee from the recent drilling on its property, a positive report has been prepared by independent engineers DeGoyler and MacNaughton Canada Limited (“DGM”) indicating a commercial well which is scheduled for production early spring of 2008.

The company currently owns a 40 per cent working interest in the 633 acre Crown lease after payout, with an overriding royalty of five to 15 per cent, which together with a 10 0per cent interest in two additional Crown leases in the area, gives the Company a gross holding of 1,900 acres.

 

FIELD TEST OF AXE LAKE DISCOVERY ON SCHEDULE, SAYS OILSANDS QUEST

Oilsands Quest reported that drilling of thermally completed, injection and observation wells for the reservoir field test program in the Axe Lake Discovery area is progressing and will continue as long as weather conditions allow.

On March 16, 2008, two wells for the test program had been drilled and completed, and a third well was being drilled.  Approximately 18 vertical wells are expected to be drilled on three test sites.  A specialized heavy-duty, truck-mounted drilling rig was contracted for drilling the test wells.  Drilling of these wells is planned to resume after spring breakup.

The reservoir test program is currently underway with drilling, coring, logging and well completion activities.  Initial steam injection into the reservoir is expected to commence in the summer of 2008 upon completion of construction of the facilities.

 

OILSANDS IDs EXPLORATION TARGETS WITH SEISMIC PROGRAMS

Oilsands Quest has now completed field work on the major 3-D and 2-D seismic programs conducted this winter on its permit lands in Saskatchewan and Alberta.  The company is using seismic survey data as one of the key tools to further define geological structure and reservoir characteristics within the Axe Lake Discovery area and to identify exploration targets.

With the arrival of spring and the warming weather conditions, winter field operations are beginning to wind down.  Following the conclusion of the winter field operations, Oilsands Quest plans to provide a more comprehensive review of the winter program.

 

OILSANDS:  18 HOLES INTERCEPT ‘BITUMEN-BEARING’ FORMATION

Oilsands Quest Inc. announces that its Form 10-Q Quarterly Report for the period ended January 31, 2008 was filed Friday, March 14, 2008.  The company also provides an update of the status of winter field operations on its contiguous oil sands exploration lands in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

To date, in the first drilling program on the Alberta side of its contiguous land holdings, Oilsands Quest has drilled 25 exploration holes, 18 of which have encountered meaningful intercepts of bitumen-bearing McMurray formation.

Reservoir characteristics, including bitumen saturations, porosities and permeabilities, from the winter drilling program in both Alberta and Saskatchewan will be determined following third-party core and laboratory analysis, which normally takes several months to complete.

 

L.G.R. SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE ACQUISITION OF STREAM OIL & GAS

L.G.R. Resources Ltd. reported that at its annual and special general meeting held on March 11, 2008 the shareholders approved the company’s acquisition, by way of share exchange, of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Stream Oil & Gas Ltd. as more particularly described in the company’s news release of January 15, 2008.

The shareholders also approved a special resolution to consolidate the company’s issued share capital on a four old shares for one new share basis in conjunction with the acquisition.  Alan T. Charuk, Ian H. Mann, Lee W. Southern and Daming Yang were elected as directors of the company pending completion of the acquisition, at which time all of such directors, except Mr. Southern, will resign and be replaced by nominees of Stream.

 

SHELL CEO:  ALBERTA TOPS LIST OF NEW PRODUCTION ‘HEARTLANDS’

Shell is rejuvenating its portfolio for a world of higher and more volatile commodity prices, increased competition, and higher costs.  As part of the annual review of strategy, Shell said it is building over 50 large projects that will underpin new cash flows for decades to come.

Upstream, Shell has over 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) resources under construction, which will add approximately 1 million boe/d of production.

Major investments underway include investment in some 10 billion boe of resources that will deliver approximately one million boe/d of oil & gas, and are the foundation for long-term growth potential of two to three per cent/year; 60,000 b/d of oil sands capacity, an increase of more than 60 per cent from today’s levels; and over seven million tones per year of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity, an increase of 50 per cent.

 

NORDIC ADOPTS SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS PLAN

Donald Benson, chairman and chief executive officer of Nordic Oil and Gas Ltd. has announced that the corporation has adopted a shareholder rights plan, effective March 17.

The rights plan is designed to ensure the fair treatment of shareholders in any transaction involving a change of control of Nordic and will provide the board of directors and shareholders with more time to evaluate any unsolicited take-over bid and, if appropriate, to seek out other alternatives to maximize shareholder value.

The rights plan was not adopted by Nordic in response to any specific proposal to acquire control of Nordic and the board of directors is not aware of any such proposal.  Although the rights plan takes effect immediately, shareholders will be asked to confirm the Rights Plan at the upcoming annual and special meeting of shareholders.  The Rights Plan would then be in effect for a three-year period from the date of shareholder confirmation.

 

PETROMIN TO BEGIN ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT DRILLING NEAR ELLERSLIE DISCOVERY

Petromin Resources Ltd. will commence additional development drilling on its lands in the Gilby area of Central Alberta.

The new location will be drilled midway between its producing lower Ellerslie well which is currently producing approximately 500 mcf per day and a new lower Ellerslie gas discovery currently producing at an average rate of 2.88 mmcf per day.

The new location which is planned to commence within a month is directly offset by a gas pipeline.  Petromin retains a 16.666 per cent working interest in the new location.

 

CANADA ENERGY PARTNERS, CREW ENERGY ENTER JV

Canada Energy Partners Inc. has entered into a joint venture agreement with Crew Energy Inc. to explore the Montney/Doig Formation on Canada Energy’s Peace River Project and Moberly Prospect in northeast British Columbia.

Canada Energy’s lands are located in an area prospective for the Montney/Doig Formation which has recently gained market attention as a result of successful commercial results.

The joint exploration program between Canada Energy and Crew Energy will cover 55 sections (approximately 35,500 acres) of lands held by Canada Energy.  Crew Energy will operate the project and will earn a 50 per cent working interest in the subject lands upon completion of the exploration program.  The initial program is expected to consist of a three-dimensional seismic project over the majority of the Peace River lands and the drilling of five exploratory wells.  This program will commence immediately and is currently anticipated to be completed by March 31, 2009.

 

ARCAN INCREASES REVOLVING CREDIT FACILITY TO $36 MILLION

Arcan Resources has entered into an agreement with its bank lender, Alberta Treasury Branches, to increase the amount available under its revolving operating credit facility from $25 million to $36 million.

Pursuant to the terms of the amalgamation of Arcan with Desco Energy Ltd. on January 1, 2007, each former Desco shareholder received one Performance Share as a portion of the consideration for each Desco common share held at the time of the amalgamation.  Pursuant to the provisions of the performance shares, such shares will, on November 1, 2008, be either redeemed and cancelled or converted into a fraction of an Arcan common share (to a maximum of 0.20380435 of a common share for each Performance Share) depending on the volume of oil and natural gas reserves at the company’s Hamburg property effective June 30, 2008.

 

EXCEED SCHEDULES COMPLETION OF NISKU GAS WELL

Exceed Energy’s 4-17-47-10W5M well that was spudded on February 14, 2008, was cased as a standing Nisku gas well on March 10, 2008.

Exceed has commenced pipelining operations which it expects will be completed before break-up.  Completion of the well is scheduled to commence in the coming weeks.

 The company has completed its five well shallow gas drilling program in northern Alberta for this winter.  Since the company’s last update on February 27, 2008, the final two wells in the program have been drilled and cased as potential gas wells in the Mannville and Wabamun zones.  Exceed expects to begin completion operations on both wells on March 24, 2008.  Tie-in and pipelining of the successful wells in the program will commence in the coming weeks.

 

UNITECH ENERGY COMPLETES SPECIAL WARRANT CONVERSION

Unitech Energy reported that to fund the drillout and completion of the Keg River test well and earn additional working interests, Unitech completed a non-brokered private placement in December, 2007 of $15,000,000 special warrants at a price of $0.09 per special warrant for gross proceeds of $1,350,000.

The terms provided that they would be converted into a variable number of common shares dependent on a reserves and valuation of the test well.

The terms of the special warrants specifically provided that if the valuation provided a value of the test well at less than three BCF, the total number of common shares issued (on a pro rata basis) upon conversion of the Special Warrants would be 3,218,389 common shares.

 

BUFFALO ENTERS DRILLING JOINT VENTURE

Buffalo Resources Corp. has executed a non-binding letter of intent with Ionic Capital Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia in connection with a proposed Canadian drilling joint venture between Buffalo and certain investment vehicles to be formed for the purposes of participating in the joint venture.

This joint venture will allow Buffalo to exploit its large asset base and inventory of existing drilling opportunities more efficiently.  Buffalo and the participants will commit up to $40 million for the purposes of completing a drilling program on certain of Buffalo’s properties over the next 12 months, allowing the company to significantly expand the level of activity previously forecast.

 

HARVEST’S YEAR-END RESERVES INCREASE TO 220.9 MILLION

Harvest Energy announced a summary of its 2007 year end reserves information.

Through successful drilling, optimization and acquisition activities, year-end 2007 Proved plus Probable (“P+P”) reserves have increased to 200.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (“mmboe”) (2006-219.9 mmboe).

Harvest has successfully replaced approximately 104 per cent of our 2007 production on a P+P basis through acquisition and positive additions from a capital program, including 5.7 mmboe of additions related to the enhanced recovery programs at Wainwright, Bellshill and Suffield.

Proved developed producing reserves continue to represent a high percentage (approximately 85 per cent) of total proved reserves.  Total proved reserves represent approximately 70 per cent of total P+P reserves.

 

BAYTEX ENERGY TRUST BUMPS UP PRODUCTION AVERAGES FOR Q4

Baytex Energy Trust reported that production averaged 39,304 boe/d during the fourth quarter compared to 38,094 for the third quarter of this year.

The fourth quarter volume includes 460 boe/d of under-accrued production from the previous quarter.  The average production for the second half of 2007, reflecting the acquisition of the assets at Pembina and Lindbergh completed at the end of June, was 38,698 boe/d.

At Pembina, production averaged 5,124 boe/d during the second half of 2007, exceeding the 3,500 boe/d production level at the announcement of this acquisition in May of this year.  Battery and compression modifications conducted since the purchase have increased operational reliability, which, together with improved industry cooperation, have contributed to production from this area exceeding expectations.

 

TEACHING AN OLD ZONE NEW TRICKS: PRODUCTION STARTS AT PELAHATCHIE

TransAmerican Energy Inc. has been advised by the operator that it has completed the recently drilled Max & Martha Gill #1 well in Pelahatchie Field in the prolific 11,300 ft. Hosston Formation.  Testing with swab rig initially resulted in estimated fluid entry rates exceeding 200 barrels of oil per day, which is the indicated rate that the well could be pumped.  Placed on a 12/64s size wellhead choke, the well has been flowing naturally at the rate of 80-115 barrels of oil daily with no formation water indicated and flowing tubing pressure of 100 to 180 psi.  Presently the drilling location is having all drilling mats, etc. removed and the site graveled so that a pumping unit can be installed once the well has finished flowing naturally.

The operator advised that, drilled to 11,500 ft. subsurface in Sec 7 T5N R5E, the Gill well encountered numerous potential productive zones beginning at the Tuscaloosa depositions in the 7000 ft. depth through the multiple Hosston formations at the 11,000 ft. zones.  These stacked “Pay zones” will now become future offset developmental drilling targets.

 

FIRST CALGARY NOMINATES FOUR NEW DIRECTORS TO BOARD

First Calgary Petroleums Ltd. announced the nomination of four new directors for election to the company’s board of directors, in addition to the appointment of a new non-executive chairman, H. Garfield Emerson Q.C., as per the company’s previous announcement.

The new nominees include one executive and three non-executive directors.  The new nominees offer an extensive combination of financial, political, regional and industry experience.  This experience will prove to be invaluable to First Calgary and its shareholders as the company focuses on moving forward with its strategy of developing its Algerian assets and looking for additional exploration opportunities.

David Savage, M.B.A., the company’s chief financial officer, has been proposed to move to an executive position on First Calgary’s Board.  This reflects, among other aspects, the extremely valuable role he has played in continuing the financing process since joining First Calgary, initially on an interim basis in August of 2007 and then as CFO. 

 

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For Advertising, Subscriptions or Information Please Contact:
P.O. Box 6870, Edson, AB T7E 1V2
Phone: 780-723-5787; Fax: (780) 723-5725

Published by The Weekly Anchor

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