Twelve successful wells in 2004
The number of deepwater discoveries in the US Gulf of Mexico continued a downward trend in 2004, dropping to a total of 12 from 17 in 2003 and 21 in 2002. Meanwhile, more independents than supermajors are scoring big in the GoMdeepwater. Of the 12 discoveries announced in 2004 - Atlas Northwest, Dawson Deep, Goldfinger, Front Runner North West, Jack, K2 North, Mississippi Canyon block 583, Puma, San Jacinto, Thunder Horse, Ticonderoga, and Tobago - independents drilled 10, while BP and ChevronTexaco logged one each.
Anadarko, Dominion, Murphy, and Kerr-McGee share the top spot for most discoveries with two each. ChevronTexaco, BP, Unocal, and Walter Oil and Gas reported single finds.
In 2004, operators found deepwater discoveries in water depths ranging from 2,487 ft for Walter’s unnamed discovery in Mississippi Canyon block 583 to 9,627 ft for Unocal’s Tobago field in Alaminos Canyon block 859.
Deeper drilling
Anadarko followed its three finds in 2003 with two more in 2004. Atlas Northwest is a natural gas discovery in Lloyd Ridge block 5 in 8,810 ft of water. The company added to its 2004 success with the K2 find. Anadarko spudded the Green Canyon block 518 No. 2 well in 4,000 ft of water and encountered 165 ft of oil pay. The company drilled the well to 26,700 ft TD, Anadarko’s deepest offshore well in the company’s history.
Anadarko expects to bring the K2 well online in 2005 through a subsea tieback to the Marco Polo TLP. Anadarko’s Marco Polo, in Green Canyon block 608 in 4,300 ft of water, came online in July 2004, and the company designed it to process 120,000 b/d of oil and 300 MMcf/d of natural gas. Anadarko holds 100% interest in Atlas Northwest and K2.
Discoveries reported in 2004: 1-Atlas NW, 2-Dawson Deep, 3- Front Runner North West, 4- Goldfinger, 5-Jack, 6-K2 North, 7-Mississippi Canyon block 583, 8-Puma, 9-San Jacinto, 10-Thunder Hawk, 11-Ticonderoga, 12-Tobago. Fields brought onstream in 2004: A-Devils Tower, B-Glider, C-Llano, D-Marco Polo, E- Mississippi Canyon block 837, F- Na Kika/Coulomb, and G- Red Hawk.
The Puma well is in Green Canyon block 823 in the Western Atwater Foldbelt. BP began drilling Puma-1 on Aug. 14, 2003, and encountered 500 ft of oil pay in Miocene sandstones in January 2004. The BP-operatedOcean Confidence drillship drilled the well to 19,034 ft MD in 4,130 ft of water.
Mad Dog, in Green Canyon block 826, is near the Puma discovery and gives BP the option of either developing Puma as a stand-alone or a tieback. Mad Dog is expected to start up in early 2005.
BP operates the well with 51.7%. BHP Billiton has 33.3%, and Unocal 15%.
The Jack prospect in Walker Ridge block 759 is in 7,000 ft of water. ChevronTexaco drilled Jack to 29,000 ft TD on July 29, 2004. The well encountered more than 350 ft of net pay oil sands. ChevronTexaco owns a 50% working interest in Jack with partners Encana 25% and Devon 25%.
Dominion celebrated two deepwater discoveries - Goldfinger and San Jacinto - in 2004. Goldfinger is in Mississippi Canyon block 771. The company drilled the well in 5,423 ft of water and encountered 57 ft of oil bearing sand 15,000 ft below sea level. Goldfinger is under construction. Dominion will tie back the well to the Devils Tower spar in Mississippi Canyon block 773 in 2005.
Goldfinger is the second subsea tieback to Devils Tower Dominion has planned for 2005. The company discovered Triton in 2002. Triton is under construction with first production expected in 2005. Devils Tower came online in May.
Dominion owns 75% of Devils Tower, Triton, and Goldfinger, with partner Pioneer Natural Resources owning the balance.
The San Jacinto find at De Soto Canyon block 618 is in 7,700 ft of water. The discovery well found 100 ft of natural gas in multiple reservoir sands. It is only 6 mi from the 2003 Spiderman/Amazon discovery, in which Dominion has 37% interest and is operator. Dominion expects to tie back San Jacinto to Spiderman in 2007 or 2008.
Kerr-McGee operates the Dawson Deep discovery well on Garden Banks block 625 in 2,900 ft of water. The company drilled the well to 24,450 ft TD and encountered 160 ft of net pay over several productive intervals. Kerr-McGee is currently appraising the well and may tie the well back to the Gunnison facility in Garden Banks block 668.
Kerr-McGee Corp. operates Dawson Deep with a 25% working interest, McMoRan Exploration Co. has a 30% working interest, and Cal Dive International Inc. has a 10% working interest.
Consistent with Kerr-McGee’s hub and spoke development strategy, the company plans to develop the Ticonderoga well on Green Canyon block 768 as a subsea tieback to the Constitution truss spar facility on Green Canyon block 680, 5 mi to the north. Kerr-McGee spudded the well on March 21, 2004, and drilled it to 13,556 ft MD. Ticonderoga encountered more than 250 ft of high-quality hydrocarbons in three oil zones. The company estimates that the well offers potential resources of 30-50 MMboe.
Kerr-McGee operates the well with 50% interest and Noble Energy Inc. owns the remaining 50%.
Murphy added to its Green Canyon block 339 discovery with Front Runner North West. The company drilled the field in 3,500 ft of water, and expects a subsea development to come online in 2007.
Murphy is also the operator of the Thunder Hawk discovery in Mississippi Canyon block 734, which encountered 300 ft in two reservoir zones. Dominion initially drilled Thunder Hawk in 5,724 ft of water to 23,101 ft TVD. After Dominion drilled the first well, the company farmed out a part of its interest to Pioneer, which left Dominion with less interest than Murphy. Murphy took over operations after the first well.
Murphy Exploration & Production Co. has 37.5% interest in Thunder Hawk and is the current operator. Dominion, operator of Thunder Hawk when the discovery was made, now has a 25% interest, along with Spinnaker Exploration Co. with 25%, and Pioneer Natural Resources with 12.5%.
Unocal declared its Tobago prospect in Alminos Canyon block 859 as a discovery in May. The company drilled the well to 18,510 ft TD and found 50 ft of oil pay in high-quality sandstones.
The Tobago well was one of several wells operators have drilled in the Alminos Canyon area to evaluate the development potential for the Perdido Foldbelt. Unocal says Tobago could be part of any Alaminos Canyon area development that may be built in the future to process a number of other existing discoveries, including Unocal’s Trident field.
Unocal operates Tobago with 40% interest. Shell holds 30%, ChevronTexaco with 16.7%, and Nexen Inc. with 13.3%.
The Mississippi Canyon block 583 discovery is a new find for Walter Oil and Gas. This subsea project in 2,487 ft of water is under development.
Going onstream
In 2004, Devils Tower, Glider, Llano, Marco Polo, Na Kika/Coulomb, Red Hawk, and Mississippi Canyon block 837 came onstream. Of these, Shell operates three, and Dominion, Anadarko, Kerr-McGee, and Walter operate one each. Water depths for the seven fields that went onstream in 2004 range from 1,500 ft for Walter’s Mississippi Canyon block 837 field to 7,600 ft for Shell’s Coulomb field, part of the Na Kika development. Two of the seven fields onstream are spars - Dominion’s Devils Tower and Kerr-McGee’s Red Hawk. Anadarko completed its Glider field with a TLP. The rest are subsea. In 2003, nine fields went onstream.
Click here to view Deepwater discoveries and status is PDF.
At the end of 2004, 20 fields were under development: Atlantis, Constitution, Ewing Bank block 1006, Front Runner, Front Runner South, Goldfinger, Holstein, K2, K2 North, Mad Dog, Magnolia, Mississippi Canyon block 583, Princess, Quatrain, Rigel, San Jacinto, South Dorado, Thunder Horse, Ticonderoga, and Triton.
