On Tuesday, October 14, 2008, Petromin (PTR) announced that TerraWest Energy Corp (TWE) had finalized its contractual arrangements with Xinjiang Geologic Engineering Co. Ltd. to commence drilling of two wide diameter wells (1500m and 800m) on TWE’s land in Liuhuanggou area of Xinjiang province, P.R. China.  This will be a 45 day drilling program. 

The 1500m well offsets a coal coring drillhole and gas desorption location completed in 2006.  It is also designed to test for Jurassic-aged coal at 1100m.  The 800m offsets another coal coring drillhole and gas desorption location and is also designed to be drilled and cased to the top of the J2x coal and then to run open hole permeability and production flow tests of the 40m plus J2x coal seams. 

Four days after finalizing its contractual arrangements, TWE spudded the 800m well.  The commencement of the drill program was celebrated with an opening ceremony. PTR’s on-site head engineer, Ryan Adams was given the ceremonial honour of pulling the switch to start the drilling and the well was officially spudded at 11:08am.  The opening ceremony ended with fireworks and other traditional Chinese business ceremonies.

Under the guidance of Petromin Resources Ltd and the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, Canada formalizes strong ties to the Kuwait Oil industry.
The World Energy and Chemicals Exhibition and Conference (WECEC) held its event for the first time in Kuwait from October 22-25, 2007. Although modest by international standards such as OTC or the Global Petroleum Show in Calgary, it was undoubtedly the largest oil and gas event ever held in Kuwait. The central theme of the exhibition and accompanying seminars/presentations was heavy oil and thanks to a close collaboration between Petromin Resources Ltd, the Canadian Heavy Oil Association (CHOA), Natural Resources Canada/CANMET, the Alberta’s International, Intergovernmental & Aboriginal Relations Department and the Embassy, the Canadian presence at this event was quite significant. This strong Canadian presence combined with an aggressive communication strategy from Petromin and the Embassy, ensured that the Kuwait oil and gas industry became aware that Canada is the best worldwide source for solutions to problems associated with heavy oil.

Under the aegis of Petromin Resources Ltd. and the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, Canada had six booths, including an Embassy/Government of Alberta information booth, incorporated into a single Canadian stand. Occupying the other spaces were Kudu Industries Inc, SNC-Lavalin, Worley Parsons - Colt Engineering and Regent Energy Group. Other Canadian companies and organizations present were the Alberta Research Council, Evans Consoles, CANMET, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy Inc., MEG Energy Corp., University of Calgary, Aquaguard, and Well Resources Inc. In addition to the exhibition, the Canadian contingent coordinated by Petromin presented approximately forty per cent of the technical papers over the course of the four day event. 

As an unofficial conclusion to the Conference, on October 25, 2007, three dailies, Al Qabas, Al Watan and Annahar published an interview with Dr. Hassan Hamza, Director General of CANMET, on his views with regard to the future of the oil industry in Kuwait and to negotiations underway between Kuwait and Canada for the exchange of expertise and the transfer of Canadian technical know-how to the Kuwait oil industry. 

This was a successful event for Petromin Resources Ltd. and the Canadian petroleum industry. It also was a successful event for the post and its partners which included the government of Alberta, Natural Resources Canada (CANMET) and the Canadian Heavy Oil Association (CHOA) - a cooperative effort which was a win for all concerned. This event was also one on which we can build to support Canadian industry. Our success at the WECEC has raised the profile of Petromin Resources Ltd. and our ability to direct and apply Canada’s expertise in heavy oil to Kuwait.

Since the event, Petromin has made several advances towards initiating business in Kuwait, formalizing a JV agreement with United Oil Projects to propose plans to implement CO2 injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Kuwait. In addition, Management will be visiting Kuwait at the end of February to continue talks with the Kuwait Oil Company in regards to Heavy Oil development projects in Northern Kuwait.

 For further info about this event, please visit http://www.wecec-kuwait.com/