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July 9 (Reuters) – Water level in India’s main reservoirs rose to 15 percent of capacity, higher than 10 percent a year ago, government data showed on Friday.
Reservoirs had more water because last year’s June rainfall was about half of the long-term average, while this year the rainfall deficit in the month was 16 percent. (Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Malini Menon)
CALGARY, ALBERTA, Jun 14 (MARKET WIRE) —
Vast Exploration Inc. (“Vast” or the “Company”) (TSX
VENTURE: VST) is pleased to provide the following progress update on the
Qara Dagh – 1 Exploration Well, Qara Dagh Block, in the Kurdistan Region
of Iraq.
The Qara Dagh Well was spudded on 12 May 2010 with a planned TD of
3600-4000 meters. Following the setting of 20″ surface casing at 686
meters, an 8-1/2″ pilot hole is currently being drilled down to the
13-3/8″ intermediate casing point. The decision to drill a pilot
hole was based on the expected fracture nature of the shallow geological
formations, and the ability to better control the drilling in a smaller
size hole.
Currently the well is drilling ahead at approximately 1,300 meters
through the top boundary of the Cretaceous age formations. The Company
believes there could be up to three potential reservoirs in the
Cretaceous with the Shiranish formation being the uppermost perspective
reservoir. During the past several days, drilling gas shows have been
observed, which is an encouraging indication of hydrocarbons being
present in the well bore.
The well plan is to drill through the Shiranish formation and upon
positive indications an open hole DST test will be planned. Then the plan
is to continue drilling to evaluate the prospectivity of the Kometan and
Qamchuqa horizons in the Cretaceous. Drilling is expected to take an
additional three months to complete and will target up to seven potential
reservoirs in the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic formations.
Mr. Ahmed Said, President and CEO, stated, “We are very pleased with
the operational progress to date. The drilling program is ahead of our
projected estimates, and we are looking forward to entering into the
primary zones of interest that are below current depths.”
Regulatory Statements
This press release contains “forward looking information”
within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward
looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with
respect to the estimated resource assessment, the prospective nature of
the Block, exploration and development plans and projected expenses,
receipt of government approvals, and relationships with other companies
who hold an interest in the Qara Dagh block. Generally, forward looking
information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology
such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not
expect”, “is expected”, “budget”,
“scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”,
“intends”, “anticipates” or “does not
anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words
and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results
“may”, “could”, “would”, “might”
or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be
achieved”. Resource estimates are based on assumptions and
parameters agreed upon, and considered reasonable, by the management of
the Company, AJM and the other companies with interests in the Block.
Statements regarding timetable of future exploration of the Block are
based on the plans set by the companies with interests in the Blocks.
Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level
of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
information. For a description of some of such risks, please see the
Company’s annual information form filed under the profile of the Company
on SEDAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that
cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can
be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place
undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company does not
undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance
with applicable securities laws.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS
THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Contacts:
Vast Exploration Inc.
Ahmed Said
President and CEO
+1 (403) 263 3000
+1 (403) 263 3041 (FAX)
asaid@forbesenergygroup.com
Vast Exploration Inc.
Greg Cameron
Vice President, Corporate Development
+1 (416) 277 6174
+1 (403) 263 3041 (FAX)
gcameron@forbesmanhattan.com
www.vastexploration.com
Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.
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The acting director of Gold Coast Water, Darren Hayman, says it is not clear how E. coli got into the drinking water supply at Nerang.
People at 2,500 properties had to boil their drinking water over the weekend.
That requirement was lifted yesterday but Mr Hayman says the hunt for the source of the contamination is continuing.
He says inspections have cleared pipes and reservoirs in the area but the water quality tests that raised the original alarm may be suspect.
“It requires a very stringent controlled environment to collect that test – in a sterile environment – and it’s possible that sometimes those tests can be corrupted,” he said.
“The tests we have taken since Friday have definitely indicated a clear result.”
CALGARY, ALBERTA, Mar 01 (MARKET WIRE) —
(NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)
Suroco Energy Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SRN) (the “Corporation”) is pleased to
announce that the Pinuna 2 well, which is the second well in the
Suroriente Block development drilling program commenced drilling on
February 26.
Pinuna 2 Well: The Pinuna 2 well is being drilled with San Antonio rig
SAI 15, which is the same rig that was used to drill the Pinuna 5 well.
The well is targeting the Villeta ‘T’ and Lower ‘U’ reservoirs and will
be drilled to a total depth of 2,983 m. The well is being directionally
drilled from the Pinuna 1 surface location, with a bottom hole location
approximately 350 m. from the Pinuna 1 vertical well which is currently
producing at 1,550 bbls/day (226 bbls/day net to the Corporation after
royalty). The well is being drilled to maximize the recovery of reserves
in a four-way dip closed feature which is partially separated from the
Pinuna 1 feature.
Pinuna 5 Well: Since commencing production on February 11th, the Pinuna 5
development well has averaged 1,944 barrels per day (283 bbls/day net to
the Corporation after royalty) with no pressure depletion and no
significant water production. The initial production behavior of Pinuna
5, which is capable of flowing at approximately 1,400 bbls/day in natural
flow without pump, indicates that this well is capable of higher
sustained rates.
The overall Suroriente Block production rate, since the Pinuna 5 well
commenced production, has averaged 4,670 bbls/day (680 bbls/day net to
the Corporation after royalty) and is currently constrained whilst
additional storage and trucking facilities are being put in place. The
additional facilities are expected to be in place in April, when the
Pinuna 2 well is anticipated to come on stream and adding to overall
production rates.
2010 Development Drilling Program: The Corporation is re-evaluating its
planned 2010 drilling program with a view to locating a rig to drill an
offset well to the new Lower ‘U’ pool discovered by the Pinuna 5 well,
which did not have any reserves assigned to the Lower ‘U’ reservoir at
this location. In addition this Lower ‘U’ pool development, the
Corporation is planning to drill at least three more development wells in
the Pinuna-Quillacinga ‘T’ sand pool and in the Cohembi ‘N’ sand pool
during 2010.
The Corporation expects that its December 31, 2009 reserves booking will
reflect some part of those reserves discovered in the Pinuna 5 well.
Alea 1947C Block: The newly acquired seismic data in the Alea 1947C block
has now been evaluated and the Corporation, along with its partner in the
Block, have made the decision to proceed with the second exploration
phase. A large, well defined exploration prospect has been identified in
the block which is on trend with the producing Platanillo oil pool in the
Putumayo Basin. The second phase requires one exploration well to be
drilled to a total depth of approximately 8,000 feet.
The Corporation is a Calgary-based junior oil and gas company, which
explores for, develops, produces and sells crude oil, natural gas liquids
and natural gas in Colombia and Western Canada. The Corporation’s common
shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SRN.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain information regarding the Corporation contained herein may
constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable
securities laws. Forward looking statements may include estimates, plans,
expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other
statements that are not statements of facts. Although the Corporation
believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will be realized. These statements are subject to certain
risks and uncertainties and may be based on assumptions that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in
the forward looking statements. The Corporation’s forward looking
statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary
statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Suroco Energy Inc.
Alastair Hill
President and Chief Executive Officer
(403) 232-6784
Suroco Energy Inc.
Travis Doupe
VP Finance and Chief Financial Officer
(403) 232-6784
(403) 232-6747 (FAX)
www.suroco.com
Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.
Hoshangabad (MP), Sep 12 (ANI): Floods situation continued to remain grim in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.
Incessant rains, which have lashed Madhya Pradesh for last few days, have led to water overflowing many dams, submerging low lying areas.
State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made an aerial survey of the flood-affected region on Friday.
“River Narmada is flowing above the danger level and due to this many villages have been inundated and water has entered many houses. Tributaries flowing in the catchments areas are also flowing above the danger level due to incessant rains and this has resulted in crop damage,” he added.
Air Force helicopters were pressed into rescue and army men took marooned people to safety.
State’s disaster management agencies and district collectors have been alerted. A relief and rescue plan has been worked out in case the situation worsens.
Monsoon has revived over northern India after deficit rainfall in July and August, bringing rains in the Indo-Gangetic plains and snow in the Himalayas.
Two days of rainy weather has caused floods as water level rose in rivers and reservoirs. (ANI)
Bahraich (UP), Aug 25 (ANI): Flood situation continued to be grim in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh.
The rising water level of the River Ghagra and other streams had submerged many villages, damaging houses and destroying standing crops worth millions of rupees.
In Kodhwa village of Bahraich, the residents were forced to take shelter on trees as the gushing waters of River Ghagra marooned their village.
Many families have moved to safer places and staying in makeshift shelters and transit camps.eople complained they were starving in the absence of food and that the administration has done nothing as for any relief measures.
“We are facing a lot of hardships…we spent four days on the branches of a tree and now since water level is receding, there is some relief. But for the fourth successive day we didn’t have any food. We haven’t received even a pinch of salt from the authorities. None of the officials came to see whether we are dead or alive,” said Rajendra Yadav, a resident.
According to local media reports, the floodwaters had entered hundreds of villages and tens of thousands of people have been rendered homeless.
Though the administration has set up some relief camps, these were unable to meet the needs of the affected families.
Heavy downpour after a delayed monsoon has created havoc in many districts of Uttar Pradesh which skirt the India-Nepal border since the waters of swollen rivers and reservoirs in Nepal rush southwards into these districts. (ANI)
New Delhi, June 26 (ANI): The Central Government has assured the States of adequate availability of short-duration seeds that may be required in case of further delay in monsoon.
Saying monsoon would revive shortly, the Centre has maintained that there is no cause for worry at this moment.
On Friday, to disuss the current situation arising due to delay in monsoon and contingency plan in the case of a possible failure of monsoon, the Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar held a meeting with his counterparts of in States that have not received rainfall like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh so far.
“There is no cause of worry if monsoon arrives by June-end. The States have been assured that there is enough seed availability to meet the demand in case short-duration seed is required,” a Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar said after the meeting.
Scientists are hopeful that the situation would not deteriorate if the rains come in a week, Kumar added.
During the meet, the subject of availability of water in the reservoirs was also discussed. It was felt that the water level would go up once the monsoon arrived and water would be available to farmers for irrigation.
The States were informed that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has started posting crop-weather updates on a weekly basis from Wednesday on its website. The ICAR has been asked to post on its website the phone numbers of key technical persons in every state so that they can be contacted in the case of emergency, sources said.
The meeting took stock of the situation in the north-west and found that the situation is not alarming even if the region gets less rainfall because states like Punjab and Haryana are well-irrigated.
The official said that there would not be any problem if monsoon arrives by July 10. (ANI)
Gujarat Monsoon – Gujarat Monsoon Update – Gujarat gets pre-monsoon showers
Gandhinagar, June 23 (IANS) Amid worries of a delayed monsoon, large parts of Gujarat have received pre-monsoon showers in the 24 hours to Tuesday afternoon, an official said here.
A total of 56 sub-districts in 17 districts have witnessed pre-monsoon activity with rains ranging from 3 mm to 10 cm being received during the period, the agriculture department official said.
He said Kaparda sub-district in south Gujarat had received the maximum of 10 cm of rain during the period raising hopes of a fresh sowing season if more rains are received in the next 72 hours.
However, most districts that received pre-monsoon showers are in Saurashtra region, mainly Junagadh, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Surendranagar and Porbander.
In particular, the drought-prone Kutch district has not received any pre-monsoon showers and most reservoirs in the desert region have very little water left.
Most check dams in the state also have on average only 20 percent of water left, he added.
The spectre of a draught still lingers in the minds of the Gujarat farmers if the pre-monsoon showers do not continue for another one week before the arrival of the monsoons, the official said.
Washington, June 21 (ANI): A new research has provided insights into the domestication of chiles and determined that they are important reservoirs of genetic diversity that are quite significant for conserving biodiversity.
Capsicum annuum is one of five domesticated species of chiles and is notable as one of the primary components, along with maize, of the diet of Mesoamerican peoples.
However, little has been known regarding the original location of domestication of C. annuum, the number of times it was domesticated, and the genetic diversity present in wild relatives.
To answer these questions, Dr. Seung-Chul Kim and his team examined DNA sequence variation and patterns at three nuclear loci in a broad selection of semiwild and domesticated individuals.
Dr. Kim and his team found a large amount of diversity in individuals from the Yucatan Peninsula, making this a center of diversity for chiles and possibly a location of C. annuum domestication.
Previously, the eastern part of central Mexico had been considered to be the primary center of domestication of C. annuum.
On the basis of patterns in the sequence data, Dr. Kim and his team hypothesize that chiles were independently domesticated several times from geographically distant wild progenitors by different prehistoric cultures in Mexico, in contrast to maize and beans which appear to have been domesticated only once.
Geographical separation among cultivated populations was reflected in DNA sequence variation.
This separation suggests that seed exchange among farmers from distant locations is not significantly influencing genetic diversity, in contrast to maize and beans seeds, which are traded by farmers across long distances.
Less genetic diversification was seen in wild populations of C. annuum from distant locales, perhaps as a result of long-distance seed dispersal by birds and mammals.
Across the three loci studied, Dr. Kim and colleagues found an average reduction in diversity of 10 percent in domesticated individuals compared with the semiwild individuals.
Domesticated chiles in traditional agricultural habits, however, harbor unique gene pools and serve as important reservoirs of genetic diversity important for conserving biodiversity. (ANI)
Kullu, Jan 4 (ANI): Power crisis loomed over Himachal Pradesh as the water level in reservoirs had fallen steeply with water flows in rivers and rivulets getting drastically reduced due to plummeting temperatures.
Due to the non-melting of the snow following very low temperatures, the reservoirs are not receiving enough water to maintain the minimum required levels at which the hydel-power projects are operated.
T. Swaminathan, the General Manager of Malana Hydro-Electric power project of said that hydro-power generation is water dependent and during winter season the temperature is very low in the upper reaches and the snow doesn”t melt. Due to this the rivers do not get the requisite amount of water to generate electricity.
“The water inflow is much less than the average inflow. So, naturally, we will get very much less generation, we will be getting around 2.5 lakh units per day whereas it should be around 25 lakh units during peak season,” he added.
The intense cold weather conditions coupled with shortage of electricity are compounding the problems of the people. Owing to power shortage for prolonged hours residents are not able to warm themselves using heaters and blowers.
Himachal Pradesh caters to the power needs of North India including the National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh. (ANI)
Kiev – Ukraine’s government on Friday upped the ante in its natural gas conflict with Russia, informing the Kremlin’s ongoing gas shipments to Europe might well be “confiscated.”
The absence of a contract between Russia and Ukraine for gas deliveries and transfers onward to Europe makes any gas shipped by Russia into Ukraine technically “of unknown origin,” and so subject to confiscation by the Ukrainian government, wrote Oleh Dubina, chairman of Ukraine’s Naftogaz Ukrainy gas trading company.
Dubina’s letter, sent to Aleksei Miller, chairman of Russia’s giant natural gas monopolist Gazprom on Tuesday, was the clearest indication yet Ukrainian officials intended to siphon natural gas shipped into Ukraine by Russia for onward transport to European customers, and held in Ukrainian underground reservoirs.
Ukraine’s leading investigative Ukrainska Pravda website published the text of the letter, posted by Naftohaz to Gazprom on December 31, the last day of an effective gas transfer contract between the two countries.
Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 because of slow Ukrainian payment of debt, and as a negotiating tactic. The initial Ukrainian response was to bar Gazprom auditors from inspecting natural gas levels within Ukraine, effectively taking hostage gas stored in Ukraine by Gazprom for later shipment to Europe.
As much as 4 billion cubic metres of Gazprom-owned gas – fuel worth some 16 billion dollars at prevailing European prices – are stored in Ukrainian reservoirs, according to Ukrainian energy industry estimates.
Gazprom has continued to pump another 300 million cubic metres of natural gas into Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline network daily. The Kremlin has said Ukraine has no right to interfere with the shipments, but Dubina’s letter disagreed, saying Russia lost title to gas pumped into Ukraine, given the absence of an existing contract spelling gas trade terms between Russia and Ukraine.
Talks between Russia and Ukraine on a new natural gas transfer contract failed on December 31, after which Russia declared Ukraine in a gas embargo.
Ukraine’s counter has been to threaten that it will divert Russia’s gas for Ukrainian consumers if necessary, and to call for a renewal of discussions. (dpa)