E&P Notes (June 2019)

Abstract

Blacktip: Shell’s New Discovery in the Gulf of Mexico The newest deepwater find in the Gulf of Mexico will be known as Blacktip. It is located about 250 miles south of Houston in about 6,200 ft of water. Shell announced the discovery in late April, calling it the “second material discovery” in what the firm terms the “Perdido Corridor,” according to Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director. A company statement highlighted that the exploratory well intersected more than 400 ft of reservoir pay zone in the prolific Wilcox formation. The deepwater operator is still evaluating and appraising the field as drilling continues to define the reservoir’s extent. Chinese-Owned Operator Claims Longest Permian Lateral Chinese-owned, Houston-based Surge Energy reported that its subsidiary, Moss Creek Resources, drilled the Medusa Unit C 28-09 3AH well in the West Texas Permian Basin to a TMD of 24,592 ft, with a total horizontal displacement of 17,935 ft, or 3.4 miles. Latshaw Drilling & Exploration’s Rig 10 drilled the well, which stayed 100% in zone of the Wolfcamp A formation, over 18 days from surface to total depth utilizing conventional mud motor and measurement-while-drilling technology. It is the longest known lateral in the Permian based on the IHS and Drillinginfo databases, Surge said. Murphy Oil to Buy Deepwater US Gulf Assets for up to $1.625 Billion Murphy Oil has agreed to acquire deepwater US Gulf of Mexico assets from LLOG Exploration for up to $1.625 billion. The deal will result in the El Dora-do, Arkansas-based Murphy adding 32,000–35,000 BOE/D net to its 2019 US gulf production, of which 60% will be oil, bringing its total US gulf output to 85,000 BOE/D net. The gulf will represent 66% of the company’s total daily production. “With this transaction, Murphy becomes the eighth-highest producer in the Gulf of Mexico. Only a year ago, they were No. 20,” said Imran Khan, senior research manager, US Gulf of Mexico upstream oil and gas, at consultancy Wood Mackenzie, in comments on the deal. ExxonMobil’s Guyana Offshore Discovery Count Rises to 13 ExxonMobil’s Yellowtail-1 well on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana encountered 89 m of “high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone,” the major said, bringing its discovery count in Latin America’s emerging oil powerhouse to 13. Located 10 km northwest of the Tilapia discovery, the Yellowtail-1 was drilled by the Noble Tom Madden drillship to 5,622 m in 1,843 m of water. Yellowtail-1 is the fifth discovery in the Turbot area—which includes the Tilapia, Turbot, Long-tail, and Pluma discoveries—where ExxonMobil plans another Stabroek Block development hub. Yellowtail-1 adds to the 5.5 billion BOE in estimated recoverable resources on the block. Majors, IOCs Win Blocks in Argentine Offshore Bid Round Thirteen companies placed bids on 18 blocks in the Austral, North Argentina, and Malvinas West basins as part of Argentina’s first open bid round for offshore acreage in more than 20 years. Nearly every major came away with blocks while other international oil companies and South American-focused operators also gained acreage, pushing total bids to almost $1 billion. Among them, Equinor took seven blocks, Qatar Petroleum (QP) received five, and ExxonMobil counted three. Other companies receiving tenders were Total, Shell, BP, Eni, Wintershall, Tullow, Mitsui, YPF, Pluspetrol, and Tecpetrol.