Drilling company GlobalSantaFe Corp. said its worldwide Summary of Current Offshore Rig Economics, or SCORE report, for November 2002 was down from the previous month’s SCORE by 1%. CEO Sted Garber said the SCORE in various international markets “continues to fluctuate. The offshore drilling rig market will likely be in a holding pattern until operators’ 2003 exploration and production budgets provide some direction.” The SCORE report compares the profitability of current mobile offshore drilling rig dayrates to the profitability of dayrates at the 1980-1981 peak of the offshore drilling cycle.

Pogo Producing Co. said it has successfully drilled exploratory wells in three different regions: the Gulf of Mexico, South Texas and Thailand. CEO Paul G. Van Wagenen said Pogo’s fourth quarter drilling program was “among our most ambitious, and the results are consistent with the success the company has been enjoying recently.” Pogo drilled the Main Pass Block 73 No. 5 “Garfield” exploratory well to 8,106 feet subsea, discovering 58 feet of measured oil and gas pay thickness in two zones. Initial production is expected from this newly discovered area by the third quarter of next year. Its Haynes No. 82 well in the Zapata County Los Mogotes field in South Texas logged 64 feet of natural gas pay and will be completed immediately. Pogo has plans to drill 20 new Los Mogotes wells during 2003. Pogo also announced an exploration discovery in its 100%-owned South Hundido exploration area, north of the Los Mogotes field. And the first three of up to eight wells on the “D” platform area of Pogo’s 46.3%-owned Benchamas field in the Gulf of Thailand have been drilled and logged.

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