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Thunder Hawk wildcat hits pay near giant Thunder Horse field At least 100 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sands appear to have been encountered in multiple thin sands; open-hole evaluation under way Ray Tyson Petroleum News Houston Correspondent
The closely watched Thunder Hawk exploratory well appears to have encountered at least 100 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sands, indicating a possible geologic link to the largest oil discovery in Gulf of Mexico history at nearby Thunder Horse.
Thunder Hawk partners Dominion Exploration & Production, Murphy Oil, Spinnaker Exploration and Pioneer Natural Resources jointly announced the find May 5, saying operator Dominion is currently conducting an open-hole evaluation after drilling to a measured depth of 26,520 feet, including water depth.
“The evaluation sequence now ongoing is designed to more completely assess rock and fluid properties, structural position of the well, and its proximity to salt,” the partners said.
Both Thunder Horse and Thunder Hawk, in the Boarshead basin, are overlain by so-called “allocthonous” salt bodies, which tend to distort seismic readings and make imaging difficult.
Based on information gathered to date, the well appears to have encountered at least 100 feet of hydrocarbon bearing section in multiple thin sands of the middle Miocene section, the partners said, adding that the main pre-drill target was encountered. Well could be sidetracked Following the evaluation, the well could be temporarily abandoned or sidetracked to another bottomhole location, the partners said. The Thunder Hawk No. 1 well, on Mississippi Canyon block 734, is situated in 5,724 feet of water and was drilled from Transocean’s Cajun Express deepwater rig.
Dominion holds a 25 percent working interest in the Thunder Hawk. Murphy has a 37.5 percent stake, Spinnaker a 25 percent interest, and Pioneer Natural Resources Company a 12.5 percent interest.
Thunder Hawk partners went into the drilling phase believing they had a piece of the giant Thunder Horse field, owned 75 percent by BP and 25 percent by ExxonMobil. Daily production at Thunder Horse is scheduled to begin next year with 250,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas.
Thunder Hawk specifically adjoins Mississippi Canyon block 778 on the northeast side of the eight-block Thunder Horse complex, due to launch first production from an estimated reserve base of 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Pre-drill estimates for Thunder Hawk ranged from 300 million to 400 million barrels.
Because of the region’s complex geology and reservoir imaging challenges, no one is certain of Thunder Horse’s true potential. Some analysts believe the play could hold upward of 7 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, although 3 billion barrels is often cited as the likely mean.
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