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Anadarko, Devon score oil at Mission Deep
Deepwater partners Anadarko Petroleum and Devon Energy said they made an oil discovery on their Mission Deep prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, adding that the exploration well encountered more than 250 feet of net pay in the primary middle Miocene target.
Located on Green Canyon block 955, the discovery well was drilled to a depth of about 25,000 feet, including 7,300 feet of water. Future plans include deepening the well to a secondary Lower Tertiary objective and drilling a sidetrack well to further delineate the extent of the reservoir, Mission Deep operator Anadarko said Dec. 11.
Mission Deep is Anadarko’s ninth discovery out of a dozen tests so far this year in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, following up on last year’s deepwater exploration program in which the company was successful on five of nine attempts.
Anadarko has an inventory of about 150 prospects and leads in the U.S. Gulf, representing an estimated 13 billion to 18 billion barrels of “gross un-risked” resource potential, said Bob Daniels, Anadarko’s senior vice president of worldwide exploration.
“Anadarko plans to drill 10 to 15 exploration tests over the next two years to evaluate this potential within our focused position in the Miocene and emerging Lower Tertiary plays,” he said.
Devon also successful in Walker Ridge Anadarko and Devon are 50-50 partners in the Mission Deep prospect. Devon also has had success in the highly acclaimed Lower Tertiary play with its Cascade, St. Malo and Jack discoveries in Walker Ridge. Devon and Anadarko own a share of another Lower Tertiary discovery called Kaskida, located in Keathley Canyon and operated by BP.
“With 15 additional prospects in our Miocene inventory and nearly 20 Lower Tertiary prospects, we are very optimistic about continued success from our Gulf exploration program in 2007 and beyond,” Stephen Hadden, Devon’s senior vice president of exploration and production, said, adding that Devon’s deepwater Gulf prospect inventory represents up to 7 billion barrels of resource potential.
Devon said it is paying 100 percent of the cost of the Mission Deep well pursuant to the terms of a joint venture agreement entered into with Kerr- McGee Corp. prior to its recent acquisition by Anadarko. Mission Deep is the final well subject to the joint venture, Devon noted.
—Ray Tyson
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