Marathon bounces back

Petroleum News Houston staff

Houston-based Marathon Oil, criticized by analysts for its poor exploration record in the Gulf of Mexico, has come back with an oil discovery in one of its other core areas, offshore Norway.

The company operated Kneler 25/4-7 well, located in 390 feet of water about 140 miles from Stavanger, encountered a 155-foot gross oil column, Marathon said April 15. Reserve estimates were not provided. Marathon said core and wireline logs were collected and are being analyzed.

“The success realized with the Kneler prospect demonstrates the potential of this Marathon core area,” said Philip Behrman, Marathon’s senior vice president of worldwide exploration. The company has not been nearly as fortunate in deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where it has drilled or participated in six dry holes or non-commercial finds during the past two years. Those disappointments have led the company to “de-emphasize” its deepwater program in the region.

It was Marathon’s first operated well in Norway, drilled to a total depth of 7,425 feet and located 7.5 miles west of the producing Heimdal platform.

Marathon said the Kneler discovery is part of a three-well program to evaluate the West Heimdal area. The next exploration well would be drilled on the nearby Boa prospect and into the same formation probed by the Kneler well, the company added.

Marathon holds a 65 percent interest in the Production License 203 area, followed by ConocoPhillips with a 20 percent stake and Norway’s Det Norske Oljeselskap.

Through its subsidiary Marathon Petroleum Norge, Marathon last year acquired Norsk Hydro’s interest in PL 203 and 150, marking Marathon’s fifth acquisition on the Norwegian shelf during the previous year.