Offshore staff
HOUSTON – The Tau prospect well has drilled through about 7,000 ft (2,134 m) of salt where high pressures and hydrocarbons near the base of salt were encountered and significant mud losses occurred, according to operator GulfSlope Energy Inc.
The company is currently tripping for a different drilling assembly to clean out the existing wellbore and possibly run casing prior to drilling below salt.
The Tau prospect targets multiple Miocene sand levels trapped against a well-defined, angled flank of the large salt structure. The correlative target subsalt Miocene sand levels are oil productive at the nearby subsalt Mahogany field, located about 5 mi (8 km) to the southwest.
GulfSlope estimates that a projected 16,000 ft (4,877 m) total vertical depth will test initial resource potential in excess of 100 MMboe for the Tau prospect. Larger projected resources at deeper depths will require deeper drilling.
The Tau prospect is the first of eight drill-ready exploratory prospects that the company intends to drill along the Louisiana outer continental shelf, targeting the subsalt Miocene play.
GulfSlope is the operator of the Tau well with a 20% working interest. Delek GOM Investments LLC, a subsidiary of Delek Group Ltd. owns a 75% working interest and Texas South Energy Inc. owns a 5% working interest.
02/05/2019
