MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine company strikes gas in Magallanes Region

Argentine oil corporation Geopark Holdings Ltd announced Tuesday it had discovered gas in one of the several exploratory wells drilled in Chile's extreme south region of Magallanes.

However the corporation also cautioned that further tests are needed to determine the real dimension of the resource found in the Pampa Larga 12 well, belonging to the Fell block from the Springhill formation. "According to current tests the well has a primary daily production of 3.1 million cubic feet of gas. But further additional production trials will be needed to determine daily flow volumes and extent of the reservoir", pointed out a Geopark release. "We've begun engineering and construction tasks for the new gas pipeline (approximately 6 kilometers long), which is expected to link the well to the main infrastructure sometime next month". Geopark target is to drill eight new wells in Chile and Argentina. Currently the company is involved in two deposits in the extreme south of Chile and four more areas are in the waiting list. In Argentina the drilling program is scheduled to begin September in Zanja Dinero. "We are very pleased with the results of the Pampa Larga drilling. We have a considerable inventory of locations where to drill both in Chile and Argentina", said Gerald O'Shaughnessy, president of Geopark. "We are looking forward to an active period of exploratory drilling and development of resources during the coming twelve months", he added. GeoPark is a privately owned company headquartered in Buenos Aires and is engaged in the exploration, exploitation, development and production of oil and gas in Argentina and Chile. The Company was founded in 2002 by Gerald O'Shaughnessy and James F. Park, who own about 67% of GeoPark. O'Shaughnessy and Park have combined oil and gas experience of over 55 years in countries such as Russia, Guatemala, Yemen, China and the United States. The company's fields are located in the provinces of Santa Cruz and Mendoza (Argentina) and in the Magallanes region (Chile). GeoPark is managed from its main office in Buenos Aires, with field offices in Rio Gallegos (Argentina) and Punta Arenas. The Fell block in Chile is located in the Magallanes basin (also known as the Austral basin) and is 90% owned by GeoPark, with the remaining interest held by La Empresa Nacional de Petroleo (ENAP), the Chilean state-owned oil and gas company. Geopark current oil and gas production is about 371 barrels a day (b/d) and 165,000 cubic feet per day, respectively. The company has a projected 80 million US dollars capital expenditure program which aims to increase oil and gas production to about 5,000 b/d and 40 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d), respectively, by December 2008. This capital expenditure program is expected to entail the drilling of about 100 primary wells, the completion of approximately 50 work-overs and the installation of production and separation facilities, and product flow lines throughout the company's properties. Geopark is supported by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.