KeyFacts Energy provide the following review of global oil and gas discoveries in 2022:

December 2022: PTTEP has announced another gas discovery in Malaysia from the exploration well, Paprika-1, in Block SK410B. The discovery provides PTTEP with a further development opportunity in Northern Sarawak and supports the company’s long-term growth.

December 2022: Vår Energi ASA, operator of production licence 229 E, completed the drilling of wildcat well 7122/9-1.

The well was drilled about 27 kilometres northeast of the Goliat field in the southern part of the Barents Sea and 85 km from Hammerfest.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in lower Triassic reservoir rocks in the Havert Formation, as well as to investigate the reservoir quality in the Ørret Formation in the Upper Permian.

Well 7122/9-1 encountered a 55-metre gas column in the Havert Formation, in sandstone layers totalling 46 metres with moderate to good reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was not encountered. In the Ørret Formation, the well encountered an aquiferous sandstone reservoir with poor to moderate reservoir quality.

Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery are between 57-132 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent (9-21 billion Sm3 recoverable gas resources).  

Vår Energi holds a 50% stake in the PL229E license, with Aker BP (50%) making up the rest of the JV. 

December 2022: The Joint Venture of Sinjhoro Block comprising Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) as operator (76%), Orient Petroleum Inc. (19%) and Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL) (5%) has discovered Oil and Gas from an exploratory well, Kot Nawab-1 which is located in District Sanghar, Sindh Province.

December 2022: Eni announced a new gas discovery offshore Cyprus with the well Zeus-1, drilled in Block 6, 162 km off the coastline in 2300 meters of water depth. The Block is operated by Eni Cyprus, holding 50% interest, with TotalEnergies as partner.

December 2022: NOVATEK announced that the Company’s subsidiary Arctic LNG 1 completed testing of the first prospecting well within the Bukharinskiy license area adjacent to the Company’s Trekhbugorniy license area in the Gydan Peninsula. The work discovered a new gas condensate field, which was confirmed by the relevant opinion from the State Reserves Commission.

December 2022: Neptune Energy Norge AS, operator of production licence 938, has completed the drilling of wildcat well 6407/8-8 S.

The well’s primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks belonging to the Garn formation (the Fangst Group). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Middle to Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks belonging to the Ile and Tilje formations (Fangst and Båt groups).

In the primary exploration target, well 6407/8-8 S encountered an 8-metre thick gas column and a 30-metre thick oil column in the Garn formation, which is a total of 131 metres thick. Reservoir quality in the hydrocarbon column is good to very good. The oil/water contact was encountered at 2998 metres.

December 2022: Neptune Energy and its licence partners announced a new discovery at the Calypso exploration well (PL938) in the Norwegian Sea.

Preliminary estimates are between 1 – 3.5 million standard cubic meters (MSm3) of recoverable oil equivalents, corresponding to 6-22 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

December 2022: Bass Oil confirmed that, following the engagement of independent geological experts, Fluid Energy Consultants, it has identified a significant prospective resource that has the potential to materially grow the Company’s Australian operations in the Cooper Basin in South Australia.

November 2022: In Morocco, SDX Energy announced two discoveries from the recently completed SAK-1 and KSR-20 wells. The SAK-1 well has already been connected to the Company’s infrastructure and testing results indicate that in place volumes will be on the higher side of the pre-drill P50 estimate of 0.44 bcf. Crucially, the well opens a new production area to the north-west of the Company’s historical producing area, with several other follow-on prospects identified within the SAK cluster.

November 2022: The National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), ExxonMobil Angola and the Angola Block 15 partners  announced a new discovery at the Bavuca South-1 exploration well.

November 2022: Energean announced that The Zeus exploration well, block 12, offshore Israel, made a commercial discovery with preliminary estimates indicating that the structure contains 13.3 bcm of recoverable natural gas resources (pre-drill estimate 10 – 12 bcm). 

November 2022: QatarEnergy announced an oil discovery in the 4-BRSA-1386D-RJS well in Brazil’s world class Sépia oil field, which is located in the prolific Santos Basin in water depths of about 2,000 meters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

November 2022: OMV (Norge) AS, operator of production licence 1100, concluded the drilling of exploration wells 30/5-4 S and 30/5-4 A.

Well 30/5-4 S encountered a gas/condensate column of about 100 metres in the Tarbert Formation, which has a total thickness of 200 metres, and sandstone layers totalling 96 metres, with poor reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was not encountered.

Well 30/5-4 A encountered a gas/condensate column of about 90 metres in the Tarbert Formation. A total of 150 metres of the formation was drilled, with sandstone layers totalling 90 metres with poor reservoir quality.

October 2022: Hess Corporation announced two new discoveries at the Yarrow-1 and Sailfin-1 wells on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. The discoveries, which are the eighth and ninth this year, will add to the block’s previously announced gross discovered recoverable resource estimate of approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

October 2022: Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Company of China Petroleum (“Sinopec Southwest”) & Chemical Corporation discovered new shale gas reserves in the Jinshi 103HF exploratory well deployed in the Sichuan Basin. With a daily natural gas production reaching 258,600 cubic meters and an evaluated resource capacity of 387.8 billion cubic meters, it is a major breakthrough for China’s shale gas exploration, and the first discovery in the Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation. The find has significantly expanded shale gas reserves and will further promote shale gas exploration and production in the Sichuan Basin.

October 2022: Indonesia Energy Corporation discovered oil in its “Kruh 28” well. Kruh 28 is the second of two back-to-back wells being drilled by IEC during 2022 at its 63,000-acre Kruh Block.

October 2022: Energean announced that the Hermes exploration well has made a commercial gas discovery of between 7 and 15 bcm and that the Stena IceMax drilling rig has moved to block 12 to drill the Zeus structure.

September 2022: OMV (Norge) AS, as operator of production license (PL) 1100 confirmed that hydrocarbons have been encountered in exploration well 30/5-4S Oswig. 

September 2022: Red Sky Energy advised that operator Santos completed the Yarrow 3 vertical well in PRL17 in the Cooper Basin. Preliminary wireline logs evaluation indicate gas has been encountered in the Tirrawarra sandstone and the Patchawarra formation.

September 2022: PETRONAS Suriname E&P announced its first oil discovery in Suriname, at the Baja-1 well in the country’s offshore Block 53.

The well, located about 189 kms offshore Suriname in a water depth of 1,140 metres, was successfully drilled to a total of 5,290 metres. It also encountered light oil in the Campanian aged sedimentary sequence. Post-drill evaluation is ongoing to firm up the potential of the discovered resource.

September 2022: Neptune Energy and its partners announced a new commercial discovery at the Ofelia exploration well (PL 929), close to the Gjøa field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. 

The preliminary estimate of recoverable volume is in the range of 2.5-6.2 million standard cubic meters (MSm3) or 16-39 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). In addition to the Agat volumes, north of the well there is an upside of around 10 mmboe recoverable gas in the shallower Kyrre formation, which brings the total recoverable volume to approximately 26-49 mmboe. 

September 2022: Algeria’s state-owned company Sonatrach made a new oil discovery at the Hassi Illatou well in the Sbaa region of Adrar province.

The initial estimated volumes of this discovery stand at 151 million barrels of oil.

August 2022: DNO confirmed an oil discovery on the Ofelia prospect in the Norwegian North Sea license PL929 in which the Company holds a 10 percent interest. The well encountered a 73-meter oil column in Lower Cretaceous Agat Formation sandstones of moderate to good reservoir quality. Preliminary estimates of gross recoverable resources are in the range of 16-39 million barrels of oil equivalent. In addition, upsides have been identified in both the Agat Formation and the overlying Kyrre Formation.

August 2022: APA Corporation announced an oil discovery offshore Suriname at Baja-1 in Block 53.

Baja-1 was drilled to a depth of 5,290 meters (17,356 feet) and encountered 34 meters (112 feet) of net oil pay in a single interval within the Campanian. Preliminary fluid and log analysis indicates light oil with a gas-oil ratio (GOR) of 1,600 to 2,200 standard cubic feet per barrel, in good quality reservoir. The discovery at Baja-1 is a down-dip lobe of the same depositional system as the Krabdagu discovery, 11.5 kilometers to the west in Block 58. Evaluation of open-hole well logs, cores and reservoir fluids is ongoing.

August 2022: Eni announced a significant gas discovery in the Cronos-1 well drilled in Block 6, 160 km off Cyprus coastline, in 2,287 metres of water depth. The Block is operated by Eni Cyprus holding 50% interest with TotalEnergies as partner.

August 2022: PGNiG discovered a natural gas deposit in the town of Sieroslaw, in central Wielkopolska. Exploration work lasted from April to June 2022, and the discovery was made through the Sieroslaw-2H exploration well, with a length of more than 3,640 meters.

The reserves of the newly discovered field may be about 650 million cubic meters of high-methane nitrogen gas, of the order of about 80%. It is estimated that the well will produce about 40 million cubic meters of nitrogenated gas per year, which translates to 32 million cubic meters of fuel per year in high-methane gas terms.

July 2022: Petrobras confirms the discovery of natural gas accumulation in the Uchuva-1 exploratory well, drilled in deep waters of Colombia, 32 kilometers off the coast and 76 kilometers from the city of Santa Marta, in a water depth of approximately 830 meters.

The Uchuva-1 well was drilled in the Tayrona Block, with Petrobras as the operator (44.44% work interest), in partnership with Ecopetrol, with 55.56% work interest.

July 2022: Eni announces another significant gas discovery of 1-1.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of raw gas in place, in a deeper zone, in its first exploration well drilled in Offshore Block 2 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This discovery follows the initial finding in a shallower zone of the same well, aggregating to a total gas in place of 2.5 – 3.5 TCF.

July 2022: ExxonMobil made two new discoveries offshore Guyana to the southeast of the Liza and Payara developments in the Stabroek block. The discoveries at Seabob and Kiru-Kiru are the sixth and seventh in Guyana this year, with the total number of discoveries in Guyana at more than 25. 

The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.

July 2022: Eni and SONATRACH announced a further discovery in Sif Fatima II concession, located in the Berkine North Basin in the Algerian desert.

The Rhourde Oulad Djemaa Ouest-1 (RODW-1) exploration well, in the Sif Fatima II research perimeter, is the third well in the exploration drilling campaign. It led to a discovery of oil and associated gas in the Triassic sandstones of the Tagi reservoir. During the production test, the well produced 1,300 bbl/day of oil and about 2 mmscfd of associated gas.

The RODW-1 discovery comes after the significant discovery of HDLE-1 in Zemlet el Arbi, announced in March 2022, and the successful appraisal well HDLS-1 in the adjacent Sif Fatima II.

July 2022: SDX Energy announced the completion of drilling at the MSD-23 infill development well on the Meseda field in its West Gharib concession, Egypt (SDX: 50% working interest). MSD-23 encountered the primary top Asl Formation reservoir at 3,909 feet MD (3,112 feet TVDSS) and reached a TD of 4,449 feet MD on 10 July. The well encountered 131.5 feet of good-quality, net oil pay sandstone, with an average porosity of 24.1% in the Asl Formation reservoir. The net pay was split across 3 separate sand units, with the upper-most sand covering 7 feet of net pay with 27.4% porosity. This upper oil-bearing sand is at virgin pressure meaning that it has not been depleted by any surrounding wells and it also represents an unanticipated upside as it was not included in pre-drill estimates.  MSD-23 will now be tied-in to the existing facilities and flow tested.

July 2022: Aker BP, operator of production licence 261, concluded the drilling of wildcat well 6507/2-6.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Garn Formation). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Middle and Lower Jurassic (Ile and Tilje Formations) and in reservoir rocks in the Upper Cretaceous (Lysing Formation).

In the primary exploration target in the Garn Formation, well 6507/2-6 encountered gas-bearing sandstone rocks totalling about 50 metres, with poor reservoir quality. The petroleum/water contact was not encountered.

In the secondary exploration target in the Jurassic, well 6507/2-6 encountered a gas column of about 44 metres in the Ile Formation, with sandstone layers totalling about 33 metres with poor reservoir quality.

The well also encountered a gas column of about 109 metres in the Tilje Formation, with sandstone layers totalling about 62 metres with poor to moderate reservoir quality. The petroleum/water contacts were not encountered in any of the formations.

Preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery in the Jurassic is between 3.6 and 10.8 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent.

In the secondary exploration target in the Cretaceous, well 6507/2-6 encountered a gas column of 4 metres and an oil column of about 3 metres in the Lysing Formation, which consists of sandstone layers totalling about 40 metres with moderate to good reservoir quality.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery in the Cretaceous between 1.2 and 1.8 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent.

July 2022: Harbour Energy completed the drilling of the Timpan-1 exploration well, located 150 kilometres offshore Indonesia, in a water depth of 4,245 feet.

The well was drilled to a total vertical depth of 13,818 feet subsea. The well encountered a 390 foot gas column in a high net-to-gross, fine-grained sandstone reservoir with associated permeability of 1-10 mD. A full data acquisition programme has been completed including wireline logging, 240 feet of core recovered and a drill stem test.

June 2022: Vår Energi confirmed the discovery of oil and gas in the Equinor operated Skavl Stø exploration well in the Johan Castberg area.

The primary exploration target for the 7220/8-3 Skavl Stø well was to prove hydrocarbons in the Stø Formation of the Realgrunnen SubGroup. The well encountered a hydrocarbon column of 46 meters with the gas/oil and oil/water contacts proven within very good to good reservoir sandstones.

Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery are between 6-10 million barrels  of recoverable oil equivalent. The discovery will be further assessed and matured for a possible tie back to Johan Castberg.

May 2022: Equinor made a new oil discovery in Snøfonn Nord, exploration well 7220/8-2 S, by the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.

The well was drilled five kilometres south-southeast of discovery well 7220/8-1, which is in the Johan Castberg field, and 210 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.

Equinor is the operator of production licence (PL) 532. Preliminary calculations of the size of the discovery indicate between 37 and 50 million barrels of recoverable oil. Together with the other licensees, Vår Energi and Petoro, Equinor will consider tying the discovery to the Johan Castberg field.

May 2022: Indonesia Energy discovered oil in its “Kruh 27” well. Kruh 27 is the first of two back-to-back wells being drilled by IEC during the first half of 2022 at its 63,000-acre Kruh Block.

May 2022: CGX Energy and Frontera Energy, joint venture partners in the Petroleum Prospecting License for the Corentyne block offshore Guyana, announced integrated results from the Kawa-1 exploration well, offshore Guyana. The Kawa-1 well was drilled in water depth of approximately 355 metres (1,174 ft) to a total depth of 21,578 feet (6,577 metres) in the northern portion of the Corentyne block.

The joint venture encountered hydrocarbons in multiple zones extending from 15,216 feet (4,638 metres) in the Maastrichtian to 21,547 feet (6,568 metres) in the Coniacian. Essentially every sand encountered over this interval indicated the presence of hydrocarbons. A total of 228 feet (69 metres) of net pay was found distributed throughout the Maastrichtian (68 feet/21 metres), Campanian (66 feet/20 metres), Santonian (76 feet/23 metres) and Coniacian (18 feet/5 metres) horizons with individual pay zones up to 35 feet (11 metres) thick.

May 2022: Energean reported a commercial gas discovery had been made by the Athena exploration well, offshore Israel.

This discovery is particularly significant as it de-risks an additional 50 bcm (1.8 tcf / (321 mmboe) of mean unrisked prospective resources across Energean’s Olympus Area (total 58 bcm/372mmboe including Athena).

May 2022: SDX Energy announced a gas discovery at the SD-12_East well that targeted a separate compartment in the Sobhi Field, within the Ibn Yunus North development lease.

The primary basal Kafr El Sheikh target was encountered at 6,567ft MD and discovered 70.2ft of net pay gas sand with an average porosity of 24.1%. A secondary target gas sand in the upper Kafr El Sheikh was also encountered at 4,838ft MD and discovered 9.1ft of net pay gas sand with 30.7% porosity.

April 2022: Neptune Energy and its partners announced the discovery of oil and gas at the Hamlet exploration wells (PL153) in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

In-place volumes discovered in the Hamlet structure are estimated to be in the range of 5-11 million standard cubic metres (MSm3) or 30-70 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). Work is continuing to confirm potential recoverable resources, but Neptune’s preliminary estimate is 8-24 mmboe.

April 2022: Hess Corporation announced an increase in the gross discovered recoverable resource estimate for the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana to approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, up from the previous estimate of more than 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The updated resource estimate includes three new discoveries on the block at Barreleye, Lukanani and Patwa in addition to the Fangtooth and Lau Lau discoveries announced earlier this year.

The Barreleye-1 well encountered approximately 230 feet (70 meters) of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs of which approximately 52 feet (16 meters) is high quality oil bearing. The well was drilled in 3,840 feet (1,170 meters) of water and is located approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of the Liza Field.

The Lukanani-1 well encountered 115 feet (35 meters) of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs of which approximately 76 feet (23 meters) is high quality oil bearing. The well was drilled in water depth of 4,068 feet (1,240 meters) and is located in the southeastern part of the block, approximately 2 miles (3 kilometers) west of the Pluma discovery.

The Patwa-1 well encountered 108 feet (33 meters) of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 6,315 feet (1,925 meters) of water and is located approximately 3 miles (5 kilometers) northwest of the Cataback-1 discovery.

April 2022: Eni announced new oil and gas discoveries in the Meleiha concessions, in Egypt’s Western Desert, for approximately 8,500 barrels/day of oil equivalent. These new discoveries have already been connected and tied into production, in line