Spiderman partner says Eastern Gulf field contains dry gas

Petroleum News

The deepwater Spiderman discovery in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico is said to contain mostly dry gas, answering a critical question raised when the discovery was announced by operator Anadarko Petroleum over a month ago.

A sidetrack completed since the DeSoto Canyon Block 621 discovery was announced also has confirmed a pre-drill reserve estimate of 325 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent, a spokesman for Spiderman partner Spinnaker Exploration said Dec. 17. He said fluid samples indicate that the reservoir is “predominantly dry gas.”

That means Spiderman likely could be included in a proposed production hub to serve other gas fields in the southern portion of the Eastern Gulf, including Jubilee, Atlas, Merganser and Vortex. Or perhaps it could be part of another hub serving future discoveries in the northern sector, the Spinnaker spokesman said.

He said another exploration well will be drilled at Spiderman on DeSoto Canyon Block 620 in the first or second quarter of next year to better “size up” the discovery. “That will be the true test,” he added.

Spinnaker and partner Dominion E&P also plan to drill their nearby San Jacinto prospect in early 2004, the Spinnaker spokesman said, adding that San Jacinto could hold reserves of 150 to 250 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent. Spinnaker and Dominion also picked up another prospect near Spiderman in the Dec. 10 Eastern Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 189, he said.

Meanwhile, Spinnaker and partner Houston Exploration “have drilled a significant deep shelf well” at High Island 47 on the Gulf’s continental shelf, Spinnaker said, without providing reserve estimates. The company said the well was “a structurally high offset” to a recent discovery made by another operator. First production from the recent discovery is expected during the first half of next year, Spinnaker said.

However, Spinnaker said it drilled a dry hole at another prospect on High Island 162. The company said it paid 50 percent or $2.9 million of the well costs.