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Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Astarte who wrote (544)	4/29/1998 12:27:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

Oil drilling begins off disputed Falklands By Michael Rank LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Drilling for oil has begun off the Falkland Islands, one of the world's last unexplored sedimentary basins, operator Amerada Hess (AHC - news) said on Wednesday. ''The well spudded yesterday. It's drilling away,'' said Hess spokesman Charles Naylor after contacting the Borgny Dolphin rig off the disputed south Atlantic islands. The rig has been hired by Amerada Hess for three years under the Falklands Offshore Sharing Agreement (FOSA), which also includes Royal Dutch/Shell (RD.AS) (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SHEL.L), Lasmo Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: LSMR.L) and Sweden's Lundin Oil AB (LOILb.ST). A total of five wells are to be drilled up to late spring 1999, with the option for more wells, depending on success of the initial phase. The five tranches to be drilled by the FOSA companies cover an area equivalent to about 30 North Sea blocks. Seven tranches have been licensed in total, covering 12,800 square km north of the Falklands. The blocks are 100 to 250 km offshore. Amerada Hess has begun drilling in one of the northernmost tranches. British company Desire Petroleum Plc, set up especially to drill off the Falklands, is a partner with Lasmo in two tranches and is also operator with a 100 percent stake in two further blocks. It may join FOSA if it decides to develop these tranches, one of which is twice the size of the other areas. Oil industry officials say there is a 10 to 15 percent chance of finding commercial quantities of oil in the remote, disputed region. Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falklands in 1982. The two countries restored diplomatic relations in 1989 and signed an agreement on a framework for oil and gas exploration in Falklands waters in 1995. But the search for oil in the area by mainly British companies remains a sore point for Argentina. As drilling was about to begin, the Argentine foreign ministry reiterated on Monday that ''it does not accept nor recognise the right claimed by Britain to authorise oil activities in sea areas that, by law, belong to the Argentine republic.'' The next company to drill will be Lasmo in early July, followed by Shell and Lundin, after which the rig will return to Amerada Hess for a second well.