CAPITAL: Ulaanbaatar
MONETARY UNIT: Tughrik
REFINING CAPACITY: None
OIL PRODUCTION: None
OIL RESERVES: None
GAS RESERVES: None
Nescor Energy Co. of Austin, Tex., worked to produce oil for sale to Sinochem International Oil Co. of Beijing from Mongolia`s Tsagaan Els field. Nescor earlier acquired through the Petroleum Authority of Mongolia the government`s 50% working interest in a production sharing contract covering 1.25 million acres in the East Gobi basin, including Tsagaan as well as Zuunbayan and Southwest Zuunbayan oil fields.
Earlier, Nescor conducted production tests, drilled one well, and reentered more than 150 wells drilled by Russian crews in the three fields.
Elsewhere, SOCO International plc, a unit of Snyder Oil Co. of Fort Worth, Tex., planned further drilling after drilling its fourth oil-producing well on its acreage in Mongolia.
The well, Sotamo 19-3, flowed during a 16 hr test at a stabilized 687 b/d of oil throuth a 3/8 in. choke. The company planned to drill four wells and install production facilities in 1997 then drill eight wells in 1998 and 17 in 1999. Oil was to be trucked to China until a 300 km pipeline could be laid to the China border.
The Petroleum Authority of Mongolia expanded two SOCO blocks to the south and west, adding 10,000 sq km to the 40,000 sq km the company already held.
The authority awarded Mantaur Petroleum Corp. of Toronto two blocks covering 3 million acres each. One was in southeastern Mongolia`s East Gobi basin south of Zuunbayan and Tsagaan Els fields. The other was in the Tamtsag sedimentary basin in the Northeast.
