GOM deepwater Dendara proves dry hole for Unocal

Petroleum News Alaska

Unocal Corp. has plugged and abandoned its Dendara deepwater Gulf of Mexico exploration well as a dry hole and has signed a joint-venture agreement for other GOM prospects with Ocean Energy Inc.

The $22 million Dendara well reached its objectives and encountered hydrocarbon-bearing sands, but the prospect did not contain commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, Unocal said March 5. Its share of the well, $17 million pretax, will be taken as a dry hole charge in the first quarter.

“Exploration has inherent risks. Dendara was a quality prospect, but it did not come in as a discovery. We still have a number of world-class exploration prospects remaining in our deepwater Gulf of Mexico inventory, and we are eager to move on to our next prospect,” said Mike Bell, vice president of Unocal Deepwater USA.

Unocal also said March 5 that it has an exploration agreement with Ocean Energy for multiple deepwater Gulf of Mexico prospects and that the Discoverer Spirit drillship is being moved to the first location, Ponza, where Unocal has a 50 percent interest and Ocean Energy has a 25 percent interest.