Cool Papa comes up dry

Petroleum News Houston staff

The Gulf of Mexico deepwater exploration well Cool Papa, highly anticipated because of the prospect’s possible geological link to the nearby Front Runner discovery, turned out to be a dry hole. The prospect carried a pre-drill reserve estimate of around 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Well expenses for Cool Papa, located on Green Canyon Block 380, also ended up costing partners Dominion E&P, Murphy Oil and Spinnaker Exploration nearly $42 million, due in part to mechanical problems down hole that forced operator Dominion to re-drill the final 5,000 feet.

Drilled to a total depth of 27,835 feet, including the water column, the Cool Papa well encountered no hydrocarbons and was temporarily abandoned, Dominion said.

Spinnaker said in a prepared statement that the well bore would be preserved for “other exploration potential” on the Block 380, but Dominion said the partners have no immediate plans to re-enter the well.

Dominion and Murphy each paid $16 million and Spinnaker about $9.7 million as their shares of the Cool Papa well, which Dominion said totaled $41.7 million.

Murphy said in a prepared statement that it would take a $13 million charge on Cool Papa in the 2003 second quarter and a $3 million charge in the third quarter. Murphy warned in early July that it would take $7-to $25 million in dry hole charges in the second quarter, depending on the outcome of Cool Papa and another deepwater exploration well at its Medusa North prospect on Mississippi Canyon 538 and 582. Medusa was a success.

It was not known how Dominion and Spinnaker intend to account for their shares of Cool Papa.