New York, 19 March (Argus) — Anadarko Petroleum and ConocoPhillips hailed what they called a “significant” find at their deepwater appraisal well in the Shenandoah basin in US Gulf of Mexico, saying the area may yet become the Gulf's most oil-rich yet.
The partners hit on more than 1,000ft of net oil pay in the Lower Tertiary. The WR51-2 Shenandoah-2 well “has the potential to become one of the most prolific new areas in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico,” Anadarko's senior vice-president of deepwater and international exploration Bob Daniels said.
The discovery is one of Anadarko's largest ever oil finds in the Gulf.
“We believe this discovery could be material and, together with the doubling of our deepwater Gulf of Mexico acreage position in the last two years, reinforces our global exploration strategy of getting into the right plays early in their life-cycle,” Larry Archibald, senior vice-president of exploration at ConocoPhillips said.
Located in Walker Ridge block 51, the Shenandoah-2 well was drilled to 31,405ft in about 5,800ft of water. Similar to the initial Shenandoah-1 discovery well, log and pressure data from the Shenandoah-2 well showed excellent-quality reservoir and fluid properties, according to Anadarko, which acts as operator with a 30pc stake. ConocoPhillips also owns 30pc. Cobalt International Energy holds a 20pc stake, with Venari and Marathon Oil each taking 10pc.
The US Gulf of Mexico is poised for a production come back. After three straight years of oil output drops in the wake of the BP oil spill, 2013 is set to be the US Gulf's first year of growth since 2009, investment bank Raymond James said this week.
While crude production from the offshore Gulf region is likely to flatten out in 2014 and 2015, there are meaningful volumes slated for startup in the second half of this decade. Based on the current schedule of major project startups, Raymond James expects Gulf output to rise faster, on a relative basis, through 2020 than US onshore production.
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