Hi Johnlag:
Here is the latest news on the Pan-Canadian oil well on the West Coast of Nfld. As I indicated earlier, I am expecting Vulcan Minerals to soon join the oil play by drilling their promised well on their Flat Bay permit.
Shoal Point well half way home 3/20/99
The Western Star
Drilling at a Shoal Point oil exploration well has slowed to less than a tenth of the rate of a month ago, PanCanadian
Petroleum officials said here this week.
And everything's right on schedule.
When PanCanadian started drilling Feb. 8, drill crews were drilling about 40 meters an hour; however, at the depth
they are at now and with the type of rock formation they are into, the rate has decreased to about two and a half
meters an hour.
Drilling superintendent William Zukiwski, said they may reach target depth in about mid-April.
Zukiwski said it's a tough well and being new frontier exploration, they want to record data as they're going, so that is
why they are taking their time. In addition, caution allows crews to stay on target.
But like the Port au Port No. 1 well on Garden Hill near Cape St. George, drilled three years ago, this one is a
confidential well and results can be kept secret for up to two years.
There have been predictions that the area could hold up to 100 million barrels of oil.
Newfoundland make up 70 per cent of work force on the site.
The massive Nabors Drilling rig stands 55 metres high and is powered by three 960 HP diesel engines.
An 8.2 km road to the drill site cost about $1.5 million and the total budget for the well is $10 million.
Lead geologist Mark Cooper said there is about a one in 10 chance of success. But PanCanadian is back here
drilling because of trends they have seen in the area and the hopes of striking “the big one.”
Zukiwski noted that there were a total of 64 wells drilled in the North Sea before the first commercial find was made
there. This one is the fifth in the Port au Port Peninsula area.
He said they are currently at the intermediate hole section, heading towards 1,700 meters of a target of about 2,400
meters. |
