Hess 'encouraged' by Huron exploratory well in deepwater Gulf of Mexico
Offshore staff
HOUSTON – Hess Corp. is reportedly “encouraged” by drilling operations at its operated Huron well in the US deepwater Gulf of Mexico, a top company executive said July 27.
The well, drilled in Green Canyon block 69 to a depth of nearly 29,000 ft, showed “very encouraging results…particularly for the Northern Green Canyon basin, where we have a very competitive leasehold,” said Greg Hill, the company’s COO and president of exploration and production. Hill, quoted in an S&P Global report, offered his views in a second-quarter earnings conference call.
Huron had targeted a new Miocene subsalt fairway in the Northern Green Canyon area, and Hess discovered “high-quality oil in good quality Miocene sands,” Hill said.
Hill added, “Our objective in the Gulf is to add a minimum sustained production cash flow through tieback opportunities and also selectively pursuing hub-class exploration opportunities. If we can grow it, we want to.”
In recent years, Hill said the company has been “selectively rebuilding” its portfolio in the US Gulf, and since that time has acquired 60 new lease blocks in the region for a current total of 80 Hess-leased blocks.
Those opportunities are balanced between high return tiebacks – prospects near existing production hubs that are relatively cheap to drill and can be tied in fairly quickly, but also may have a lower reserves – and hub-class new exploration prospects that often contain large reserves but could take five or more years to drill, appraise, build and bring online.
Hess is planning an appraisal sidetrack on Huron, and the company is enthused over the results they have seen there, Hill said. But he added that even more encouraging is the fact that the well has opened up additional opportunities in the surrounding areas nearby.
“As a result of what we’re seeing at Huron, we see additional prospectivity in that Northern Green Canyon area, and we have a very competitive leasehold position there,” Hill was quoted to say in the S&P Global report.
Hill declined to provide pre-drill reserve estimates, saying the company does not release that information. However, he noted that the well is still under evaluation, and that more information will be released as the company appraises the asset.
07.30.2022
