Dana Petroleum reported the Cormoran-1 exploration well has been drilled to a total depth of 4,695 metres below sea level and has been plugged and abandoned as a gas discovery.

Stabilised gas flow rates of between 22 and 24 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfpd) were obtained during a test of one of the four separate gas columns encountered by the well.

The Cormoran-1 exploration well is located in Block 7, offshore Mauritania. It lies approximately 2km to the south of the Pelican-1 gas discovery well, which was drilled in late 2003. The well was drilled by Dana Petroleum, as Operator of Block 7, using the Maersk Deliverer deep water semi-submersible drilling rig. Water depth at the well location is approximately 1,630m.

The primary purpose of the Cormoran-1 well was to test the Cormoran prospect, which adjoins but lies at a greater depth than the Pelican discovery. A secondary exploration objective was the Petronia prospect, which lies beneath the Cormoran prospect. A further objective of the well was to provide appraisal information on the Pelican gas discovery.

The Cormoran-1 well encountered generally thin but good quality, gas-bearing, sands within the Pelican Group at depths between 3,376m and 3,711m true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS). This interval comprised two gas columns, one in the Upper Pelican Group (3,376 to 3,420m TVDSS) and one in the Lower Pelican Group (3,691 to 3,711m TVDSS).

Good quality, gas-bearing, sands were also encountered within the Cormoran prospect, in the gross interval from 4,351 to 4,471m TVDSS, and at the top of the Petronia prospect, in the gross interval from 4,660m to 4,695m TVDSS.

Drilling was stopped at a depth of 4,695m TVDSS for operational reasons (elevated pore pressures). The well was still in gas-bearing reservoir section at this depth.

A drill stem test was carried out across a 33m interval in the Lower Pelican Group (3,679 to 3,712 TVDSS). Stabilised flow rates of up to 22 to 24 MMscfpd were obtained on a 32/64” choke, the flow rate being constrained by the need to avoid sand production. Substantially higher flow rates could have been achieved were it not for this operational constraint.

Following the DST, the Cormoran-1 well was plugged and abandoned, this being done in such a way that the well could be re-entered in the future.

Participating interests in Block 7 are:

Dana Petroleum is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC).

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Lundin Petroleum AB reported that drilling of exploration well 16/4-5 on the Luno High prospect in the Greater Luno Area has commenced.

The well in PL359 is located 9 km south of the Luno field on the southern Utsira High in the North Sea.

Well 16/4-5 in PL359 will target sandstones of Jurassic and Triassic age in a combined stratigraphic-/structural trap. The Luno High prospect is estimated to contain gross unrisked prospective resources of 103 MMboe. The well will also test potential basement prospectivity similar to that encountered in well 16/1-12 (Luno South).

The planned total depth is approximately 2,275 meters below mean sea level. The well will be drilled from the semi-submersible drilling rig Transocean Winner. Drilling is expected to take approximately 50 days.

Lundin Petroleum is the operator and has a 40 per cent working interest in the license. Partners are Statoil Petroleum AS with 30 per cent and Premier Oil Norge AS with 30 per cent.

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Marathon Oil Corporation has signed an agreement with Marubeni Denver Julesburg LLC, a subsidiary of Marubeni Corp., under which Marathon will assign a portion of its interest in the Niobrara shale play within the DJ Basin of southeast Wyoming and northern Colorado.

Under terms of the agreement, Marubeni will receive a 30 percent undivided working interest in Marathon’s approximately 180,000 net acres in the DJ Basin for a total consideration of $270 million, or $5,000 per acre. The companies expect to close this transaction by April 28, 2011.

“Marathon is pleased to partner with Marubeni as we prepare to explore and evaluate the full potential of this emerging, liquids-rich resource play,” said Dave Roberts, Marathon’s executive vice president, Upstream.

“Our significant acreage position in the DJ Basin reinforces our strategy of targeting unconventional, oil-focused resource plays in the U.S. that provide low-risk, scalable growth opportunities. It also allows us to apply expertise developed over the past several years in other unconventional shale plays such as the Bakken formation in North Dakota.”

Marathon began leasing acreage in the DJ Basin in 2010. The Company is currently acquiring 2-D and 3-D seismic data and expects to participate in eight to 12 gross exploration wells by the end of the year. Marathon will be operator of the jointly owned leasehold.

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