Westwood details offshore hotspots for high-impact drilling in 2025
Westwood Global Energy Group expects 65-75 high-impact wells to be drilled worldwide this year, with seven of these already completed by the end of January.
The line-up includes 21 frontier wells, with new plays to be tested in the Sabah, Rio Muni, Western Black Sea, Suriname-Guyana and Cauvery basins.
About 40% of the total wells will be on >100 MMboe prospects in mature and maturing plays, said Westwood exploration research manager Jamie Collard.
Gulf of America?
The Associated Press weighs in: "President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the US and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change. The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen."
The arenas include the Campos, Gulf of Mexico (GoM), Kutei, Norwegian Sea and Santos basins.
In volume terms, QatarEnergy is set to lead the way, participating in 13 high-impact wells this year, all operated by supermajors apart from a Petrobras-operated well offshore Brazil.
Chevron is set to participate in seven wells, two of which have already finished drilling as dry holes: Khendjer in Egypt and Kapana offshore Namibia.
Offshore Africa, Westwood anticipates seven to 10 wells this year in the Orange Basin, notably Olympe-1X and Sagittarius-1X.
Azule Energy look set to drill Kianda-1 later this year in the outboard area of the Angolan portion of the Congo Basin, with further high-impact offshore drilling likely in the Namibe, Rio Muni and Tano basins.
In the US GoM, four high-impact subsalt Miocene tests should complete this year; of these, the Far South well is presently drilling. The Daenerys well will pursue an extension of the subsalt Miocene play.
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Offshore Brazil, wells to watch include Andorinha in the Campos Basin, south of Marlim Sul, and Bumerangue, targeting a southerly extension of the presalt play in the Santos Basin.
In the western Caribbean Sea, Petrobras should drill the Buena Suerte well targeting Miocene reservoirs over a basement high, close to its recently confirmed multi-Tcf Sirius gas discovery.
The Korikori well offshore Suriname will test a shallow-water Upper Cretaceous play inboard of the deepwater play. Plus, there could be two more wells in the offshore Demerara Basin on the Macaw and Araku Deep prospects.
In the western Black Sea offshore Bulgaria, OMV Petrom will drill the Vinekh well aiming to prove an extension of the Sakarya gas play from Turkish waters.
Elsewhere, Collard said frontier wells could be spudded offshore South Korea on the Daewanggorae prospect as well as on Mailu offshore Papua New Guinea. Megah is a high-impact well in progress offshore Malaysia.
In India, ONGC and Oil India could drill up to six high-impact wells across the east coast and Andaman Islands basins.
