With its acquisition of Calgary-based Berkley Petroleum Corp.completed, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it will increase its totalcapital spending plan for Canadian operations by 49% to US$386million, and will step up exploration and production there for thenext several years. The 2001 increase, up from the $259 millionfirst budgeted, doesn’t count the Berkley transaction, completedlast week (see Daily GPI, March 20).

“We’re extremely excited about the prospects we’ve been workingthis winter in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and theNorthwest Territories,” said James J. Emme, Anadarko Canada Corp.president. “We’re seeing some promising early indications from ourexploratory drilling programs in northeast British Columbia andnorthwest Alberta in particular.”

Emme said the Berkley assets “offer some excellent opportunitiesfor both exploration and development, in addition to those we’vebeen working previously. As a result, we intend to accelerate ouroverall activity level in Canada substantially over the next fewyears.”

The acquisition of Berkeley increases capital spending by $127million for the combined company, which includes $38 million ofadditional spending over Berkley’s original 2001 plans. Berkleyspent $46 million in the first two and a half months of this year,and expected to drill more than 600 net wells in Canada in 2001.

Anadarko, based in Houston, is the sixth most active driller inCanada. It plans to increase its winter activity level from a peakrig count of 28 rigs working in 2001 to as many as 35 rigs inwinter 2002. The company also expects to run 15 rigs this summer inAlberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

With the Berkley deal, Anadarko increased its Canadian reservesby 42%, to 312 MM boe, of which 65% is natural gas. It alsoincreased Anadarko’s total acreage in Canada to 4.7 million netacres, up from 3 million.

In the 2001 winter drilling season, Anadarko upped its JeanMarie natural gas play in northeast British Columbia, where themajority of its drilling activity is focused. It increased itsacreage position in the play by 80,000 acres in February, to167,600 net acres, and it now has 12 horizontal wells at variousstages of completion, including four dual horizontal wells.

Anadarko expects to have six Jean Marie wells producing by earlyApril at a combined rate of 10 MMcf/d, the initial capacity of theproduction facilities. The wells tested at daily rates of between 2MMcf/d and 4 MMcf/d. Four of the remaining six wells will beginproducing this summer, with the other two by next winter. Anadarkoalso plans a summer drilling program in Jean Marie.

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