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Explorers looking to team up on hot Gulf gas prospect Plans to drill this fall; prospect said to contain half-trillion cubic feet of reserves Petroleum News
It turns out Eastern Gulf of Mexico's Spiderman and Amazon prospects are one in the same but spread across separately owned tracts, causing the leaseholders to consider a joint exploration program on what one of the players characterized as the hottest natural gas prospect in the region.
In fact, the owners are said to be nearing agreement to spud a first well this fall. Anadarko Petroleum calls its DeSoto Canyon Block 621 prospect Spiderman, while partners Dominion E&P and Spinnaker Exploration call their adjoining Block 620 prospect Amazon.
Roger Jarvis, Spinnaker's chief executive officer, said Aug. 24 that “there is a high probability “a joint agreement would be reached to drill a well sometime this fall.
“There's no question in our mind that Amazon is the best prospect in the Eastern Gulf,” Jarvis said, adding that “the most likely case” is that Spiderman-Amazon contains a half trillion cubic feet or more of natural gas reserves. “We would suspect it's natural gas,” he added.
Ultra-deepwater DeSoto Canyon blocks 620 and 621 were among the heaviest bid tracts in the December 2001 Eastern Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 181, the first offering for the remote region in more than a decade. Anadarko submitted a winning bid of $18.02 million for its lease, while Dominion, Spinnaker and Amerada Hess together placed a winning bid of $8.6 million for theirs. Dominion and Spinnaker later bought out Hess' 40 percent interest in Block 620.
Interestingly, Anadarko placed a losing $5 million bid on the block now held by Dominion-Spinnaker, and Dominion-Spinnaker-Hess submitted a losing $3.5 million bid on the block now held by Anadarko, resulting in a split prospect and a desire for a joint venture to explore the play.
More than one well will be required Jarvis said “it really doesn't matter” on which side of the line the first well is drilled, because more than one well would be required to delineate the field on both sides of the border in the event of a discovery. “They are permitted and we are close to being permitted,” he added.
Anadarko said it should take only 30 to 40 days to compete the initial well. But just who would serve as operator is unknown. DeSoto Canyon Block 621 is owned 100 percent by Anadarko. Block 620 is owned two-thirds by Dominion and one-third by Spinnaker.
Sale 181 was among the most financially successful for its relatively small size in Gulf history, generating $340.5 million in high bids on just 95 blocks. Anadarko and Shell Offshore accounted for 72 percent or $245.6 million of total high bids.
Anadarko alone paid $136 million to capture 26 tracts in Sale 181, including a sale-high bid of $26 million for Lloyd Ridge Block 91 south of the DeSoto Canyon area. The sale attracted 10 winning bids of more than $9 million each. A second Eastern Gulf lease sale is scheduled for Dec. 10 in New Orleans, La.
Anadarko's Spiderman would be the fourth Eastern Gulf exploration well for Anadarko. Jubilee and Atlas were discoveries. Hawkeye came up dry. It would be the first exploration well in the Eastern Gulf sale area for Dominion or Spinnaker.
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