GeoPetro Resources starts operations in Texas' Madisonville field

GeoPetro Resources reported that reworking and testing operations commenced in March 2014 in the Madisonville field, Madison County, Texas.

The Company initiated reworking and testing operations on the Ruby Magness #1 and the Angela Farris Fannin #1 wells in anticipation of restoring production in the Madisonville field. These two wells are expected to recommence production by mid-year 2014.

The Company owns a 100% working interest in certain leases in the Rodessa Formation interval within the Madisonville Field.The Company also owns a 100% interest in a natural gas treatment plant and related gas gathering pipelines and related facilities (collectively, the plant).The plant has a design capacity to treat 18 Mcf of natural gas per day.

The Company is currently conducting additional operations and work programs to restore its production from the Ruby Magness #1 and Angela Farris Fannin #1 wells. The Company also plans to further increase production in the Madisonville Field by performing workover operations in the Mitchell #1 and Wilson #1 wells in 2014.

Addressing the positive developments at the Madisonville Project, GeoPetro' s President and CEO, Stuart J. Doshi commented, "We are particularly pleased with the commencement of operations at Madisonville Field which represents a significant milestone for the Company.The recent strengthening of natural gas prices from the 10-year lows experienced over the previous two years provides us with an opportunity to position the Company to re-establish production and generate revenues and positive cash flow for the Company by not only bringing the Magness #1 and Fannin #1 wells online, but also further enhancing production by performing workovers at the Mitchell #1 and the Wilson #1 wells.Additionally, the Company continues to be focused on securing an industry partner to undertake the drilling of a deep well to test six highly prospective zones in the Madisonville Field.Our 3-D seismic shows a very attractive structural closure with a high potential for a major discovery."

The Madisonville Field has been a prolific producer of oil and natural gas.The Rodessa and shallower zones have to date produced in excess of 30 MMbbl of oil and 100 Bcf of natural gas.The six zones below the Rodessa Formation have potential recoverable reserves of approximately 1 Tcf of natural gas.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Blockline and Associate Ltd Nigeria Ltd, online.

American Sands Energy acquires pilot plant for water-free extraction process

American Sands Energy Corp., an oil sands exploration and development company operating in Utah, has completed the purchase of its pilot plant, used to demonstrate its water-free extraction of bitumen, or heavy oil, from leased oil sands deposits the firm intends to mine. The agreement with Elemax, Inc., included a combination of cash and stock to purchase the trailer-mounted mobile oil recovery system.

The pilot plant, which the company has successfully used to process up to 1 ton of oil sand per hour over multiple days, will be used by American Sands to evaluate other opportunities for hydrocarbon recovery projects, while the company moves toward initial production at its Sunnyside location.

Will Gibbs, chairman and CEO, said that the pilot plant “uses no water, consumes 60% less energy than traditional oil sands mining operations, requires no tailing ponds and produces no toxic byproducts.”

Gibbs added that, going forward, "In addition to the pilot plant being the engineering model for our initial planned 5,000 bpd plant in Utah, we also plan to work with industry partners around the world that can utilize our scalable technology to extract oil from solid materials such as oil sands, oil shale and other substances."

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Blockline and Associate Ltd Nigeria Ltd, online.

CEPSA acquires a 30% stake in an exploratory block in Liberia

CEPSA has acquired a 30% stake in a hydrocarbon exploration block off the Liberian coast in West Africa. Block LB-10 is operated by Anadarko Liberia Block 10 Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

The farmout agreement provides, in part, that CEPSA will participate in the drilling of two exploratory wells before August 2016. The block is in a deepwater area, with depths of approximately between 1,000 and 2,000 m. Anadarko has extensive experience as an operator in this basin. Other companies with participation in the block are the London-based company Liberia Japan Petroleum and Spanish integrated Repsol.

This acquisition has enabled CEPSA to add to its offshore portfolio, which already includes two exploratory blocks in Brazil and one in Suriname and exploration and production blocks in Thailand and Malaysia.

The operation is part of CEPSA' s expansion strategy in exploration and production. It will also be an opportunity to increase our technical capacities in the high potential offshore area in West Africa.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Blockline and Associate Ltd Nigeria Ltd, online.

OPEC sees lower demand as U.S. output rises

OPEC trimmed estimates for the amount of crude it will need to pump this year amid rising U.S. supplies, and predicted that a “supply buffer” will accumulate before demand peaks in the summer.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, responsible for 40% of the world’s oil supply, will need to provide an average of 29.6 MMbpd of crude this year, according to its monthly market report. The assessment is 100,000 bpd lower than last month’s because of higher output from the U.S. and Canada, and in line with the group’s March production level. Oil inventories, currently “tight,” will rebuild as demand sags in the second quarter, it said.

Reliance on OPEC is being frayed as the U.S. pumps the most crude in more than two decades by tapping shale formations in North Dakota and Texas. Brent crude futures have lost 2.9% this year, trading for $107.58 a barrel today in London, amid speculation OPEC members Libya and Iran may restore supplies curbed respectively by political unrest and sanctions. OPEC would “accommodate” their return to the market, group Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said in Doha, Qatar, yesterday.

“Demand for OPEC crude for 2014 was revised down” from last month “reflecting the upward adjustment of non-OPEC supply,” the group’s Vienna-based secretariat said in the report. “Oil markets have now entered into a period of lower demand, which provides the opportunity to re-build tight product inventories.”

OPEC’s 12 members reduced production by 626,200 bpd to 29.6 MMbpd in March because of declines in Iraq, Angola and Libya, according to secondary sources cited by the report. Iraqi production fell most, declining 288,400 bpd to 3.2 MMbpd, according to the report, which didn’t specify a reason.

The second-largest drop was in Angola, where output fell by 154,800 bpd to 1.5 MMbpd, followed by Libya, where supplies slipped by 117,700 a day to 243,000 a day. Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest member, trimmed output by 80,500 bpd to 9.7 MMbpd.

The group boosted its projection of supplies from outside OPEC by 60,000 bpd. Non-OPEC producers, led by the U.S., Canada and Brazil, will increase output by 1.4 MMbpd in 2014 to 55.6 MMbpd.

The organization kept its forecast for global oil demand in 2014 stable. World consumption will increase by 1.1 MMbpd, or 1.3%, to 91.2 MMbpd, the report indicated.

OPEC’s 12 members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Venezuela. The group will next meet on June 11 in Vienna to discuss output targets.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Blockline and Associate Ltd Nigeria Ltd, online.