Depth

Signaling a marked change four years after the depth of the western energy crisis, Sempra Energy’s top utility executive said Tuesday that California offers some good growth opportunities for utilities in an “improving regulatory environment.”

McMoRan Exploration Co.’s JB Mountain Offset, located in South Marsh Island Block 223, has drilled to a total measured depth of 21,896 feet, and wireline logs indicate that the well encountered “significant intervals” of hydrocarbon pay in the Gyrodina sand section.

Marathon Oil Co. and TotalFinaElf have set new world water-depth records for producing wells and laying pipelines, respectively, both at 7,209 feet below the surface, according to Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). This exceeds the previous deepwater production record by about 100 feet, which was set by the French energy concern, TotalFinaElf, two months ago in the Aconcagua field in the Gulf of Mexico.

Marathon Oil Co. and TotalFinaElf have set new world water-depth records for producing wells and laying pipelines, respectively, both at 7,209 feet below the surface, according to Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). This exceeds the previous deepwater production record by about 100 feet, which was set by the French energy concern, TotalFinaElf, two months ago in the Aconcagua field in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) last Thursday initiated an in-depth review of the financial condition of the state’s major public utilities in order to ensure that unregulated affiliate activities do not negatively affect the financial condition or service quality of the regulated utilities serving Ohio. Utilities based in Ohio include American Electric Power (AEP), FirstEnergy, Cinergy and DPL.

NS Premier John Hamm said the bids show again the depth of industry’s interest in Nova Scotia. “Two bids broke all previous records and, in total, the nine bids represent a 50% increase in interest in just one round,” he said. “It represents a strong vote of confidence in Nova Scotia and our decision to focus on getting more exploration under way to determine our potential.”

Calgary-based Canadian 88 Energy Corp. has successfully drilled a significant deep natural gas well in Western Alberta to a depth of 15,709 feet. The well is a stepout into the prolific Blackstone Devonian Swan Hills gas pool and log results indicate 98 feet of highly porous dolomite gas pay, averaging 10% porosity analogous to other wells in the pool. The well, located about 1.9 miles from other wells in the Blackstone pool, encountered the top of the gas pay 246 feet higher than any previous well. Canadian 88 expects to have more information when the well is completed and on production within six months. The Blackstone pool, which is 150 miles northwest of Calgary, was discovered in 1984 and has produced 404 Bcf of sales gas from three wells to date, with an estimated 355 Bcf of sales gas remaining. Two wells are currently on production in the pool, each producing at a rate of approximately 50 MMcf/d.

With the news that its second quarter net income doubled from the same period last year, Calgary-based PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. said Tuesday it would boost its capital budget almost 51% through the rest of the year, with 26% targeted toward high impact exploration. The increase, said the company, would allow it to take advantage of “new opportunities and pursue an aggressive plan of delivering further growth.”

The Canadian natural gas resource endowment is beginning to showing its depth again as new drilling attempts to catch up with demand. Production from the western provinces has increased by 680 MMcf/d this year, according to records kept by FirstEnergy Capital Corp., an investment banking house. In a “market update,” research manager Martin Molyneaux credited 70% of the production gain to a single discovery in northeastern British Columbia, the Ladyfern find by Murphy Oil Co., Apache Canada and Alberta Energy Co (see related story this issue).