Offshore staff
EL DORADO, Arkansas – Murphy Oil Corp. has revised its 2020 budget to a midpoint of $740 million, the company revealed in its latest results statement.
The company has reduced its capital allocation to about $335 million for its offshore assets, with 94% planned for the Gulf of Mexico and the remaining 6% for offshore Canada.
Revisions from the original plan include adjusting the three-well rig program at Front Runner to two wells with the third well deferred to a later date, no longer drilling or completing certain operated wells and non-operated projects, and shifting timing of other plans. Expenditures for the St. Malo waterflood and the Khaleesi / Mormont and Samurai projects are still planned for 2020. Canada offshore spending remains budgeted for development drilling.
It has adjusted its 2020 exploration plans to a one-well non-operated program, deferring the two exploration wells offshore Mexico to 2021.
In 1Q, the A4 well in Green Canyon block 338 in the Gulf of Mexico came online. The company is evaluating near-field exploitation opportunities, as it encountered more than 250 ft (76 m) of net pay in the well. The well, the first in the Front Runner rig program, has outperformed expectations with a gross peak rate of about 7,000 boe/d.
The company also completed the subsea equipment repair at the Neidermeyer field in Mississippi Canyon block 209.
Construction of the King’s Quay FPS continues to progress, the company said. Transaction documentation with ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC and other parties is moving forward, and it expects to close the transaction in 2Q 2020.
In 2Q, EnVen Energy Ventures, LLC is expected to spud the Mt. Ouray well in Green Canyon block 767. Murphy holds 20%.
The company is also closing its corporate headquarters in El Dorado, Arkansas and office in Calgary, Alberta. It is relocating its corporate headquarters to Houston.
05/08/2020
