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Dalmatian further proves up eastern gas Reserve in eastern U.S. Gulf of Mexico estimated at more than 100 bcf; development plans call for tie back to existing structure Ray Tyson For Petroleum News
Three U.S.-based exploration and production independents — operator Murphy Oil and partners Newfield Exploration and Mariner Energy — have further proven up the natural-gas-rich area along the Central-Eastern Gulf of Mexico border with their recently announced deepwater Dalmatian discovery on DeSoto Canyon block 48.
Dalmatian is the latest of a long string of significant dry gas discoveries since a small portion of the Eastern Gulf, known as the Sale 181 area, was opened to federal leasing in December 2001. Production from many of the these discoveries was routed to nearby Independence Hub, the largest gas development in the U.S. Gulf, with around 1 billion cubic feet of daily capacity.
Murphy, to comply with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s stringent rules governing oil and gas reserve reporting, may have purposely underestimated Dalmatian’s true reserve potential to appease the SEC, indicated David Trice, Newfield’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Trice, responding to an analyst’s question during Newfield’s third-quarter earnings conference call on Oct. 22, said Murphy reported estimated Dalmatian gas reserves of between 60 bcf and 70 bcf. “We get a higher number ... probably a bit north of 100 bcf,” Trice added.
The Dalmatian exploration well was drilled in just under 5,900 feet of water and found 120 feet measured depth of “net high quality natural gas pay,” Murphy said, adding that current plans are to develop the well as a subsea tie back to existing infrastructure in the area, presumably Independence Hub. Murphy, in addition to operating the Dalmatian well, is the majority owner with a 50 percent working interest.
However, while Dalmatian was dubbed a success, Murphy also announced that its 100 percent-owned and operated Manhattan exploration well, just south of DeSoto Canyon on Lloyd Ridge 511, was unsuccessful and was plugged and abandoned.
Mariner has area discoveries Scott Josey, Mariner Energy’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the Dalmatian discovery, in which the company holds a 12.5 percent interest, “leveraged off” previous Mariner discoveries in the region, specifically at Swordfish in Viosca Knoll and Aconcagua in Mississippi Canyon.
“The success at Dalmatian bodes well for our additional lease holdings in the area, which consist of working interests ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent in five prospects on nine contiguous blocks,” he explained, adding that another one of its deepwater prospects, Heidelberg, is expected to spud in November on Green Canyon block 859.
Newfield said that in addition to its 37.5 percent working interest in Dalmatian, the company owns working interests between 23 percent and 50 percent in nine contiguous blocks offsetting the Dalmatian discovery.
“We have five additional amplitude prospects in the area that we are evaluating for future exploration and development potential,” the company said.
Other major gas discoveries in the Eastern Gulf include Spiderman (DeSoto Canyon 620 and 621), San Jacinto (DeSoto Canyon 618), Atlas Northwest (Lloyd Ridge 5), Atlas (DeSoto Canyon 50), Mondo Northwest (Lloyd Ridge 1 and 2) and Cheyenne (Lloyd Ridge 399). Discoveries in the Central Gulf just west of the Sale 181 area include Jubilee (Atwater Valley 305 and 349), Vortex (Atwater Valley 261) and Merganser (Atwater Valley 37).
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