Texas South Energy Inc. (fka TXSO)

[klimanjaro]

FOCUS US GULF 27
WELLS TO WATCH IN 2018 SECOND HALF
1. Chevron and Total: Twickenham, MC 610
2. Chevron: Crown, GC 717, 760, 761
3. Murphy: King Cake, AT 23
4. GulfSlope: Canoe Shallow/Tau, VR-SA 378; SS-SA 336/351
5. ExxonMobil: Thunder Horse East, MC 779/823
6. Anadarko: Unnamed wildcat, AC 380/424
7. BP: Manuel, MC 520/Isabela 2, MC 562
8. Shell: Caramel Keg, GB 961/962
9. Shell: Stones SW, WR 594/595
10. Murphy: Highgarden, GC 895
Ready for action: the Rowan jack-up Ralph Coffman is set to drill for

GulfSlope at the Canoe Shallow prospect Photo: ROWAN COMPANIES 
 Steady pace for US Gulf deep exploration 
 Anchor find.  Meanwhile, 
 GulfSlope Energy was issued a 
 drilling permit on 27 July for the 
 first of its two highly anticipated 
 wells in the region this summer. 

The work will put into action
the exploration thesis held by the
company over the last four years
— that the US Gulf’s prolific subsalt
Miocene formations have
potential via easier-to-access
drilling locations closer to shore.
GulfSlope received the Rowan
jack-up Ralph Coffman in the
region in early May as it gears up
to drill the Canoe Shallow prospect
on Vermilion Area, South
Addition Block 378 and the Tau
prospect on Ship Shoal Area,
South Addition 336 and 351.
Block moves and drill plans help give
clue to wildcat menu for operators
WHILE most activity in the
US Gulf of Mexico at present is
focused on development work,
a range of block moves and
exploration plans suggest where
explorers might look next,
writes Kathrine Schmidt.
Last month, US supermajor
ExxonMobil filed a new
exploration plan on a pair of
deep-water Gulf of Mexico
blocks picked up in a lease sale
last August for more than $15
million.
The Thunder Horse East
plan covers up to three well
locations in Mississippi Canyon
Blocks 779 and 823, immediately
east of BP’s Thunder Horse
development in between 6300
and 6400 feet of water.
The exploration plan calls for
a spud as soon as 15 September,
with drilling set to last for 152
days.
ExxonMobil recently signed
the drillship Rowan Relentless
to an 80-day contract starting in
September with four one-well
options.
The US supermajor already
has approval for an exploration
plan for a prospect called
Hershey, whose blocks it picked
up for $90.4 million in a 2013
lease sale.
The plan laid out up to six
targets in Green Canyon blocks
326, 327 and 371.
The area lies 97 miles (155
kilometres) offshore in about
3000 feet of water, south-east of
the Talos-operated Phoenix field
and less than 20 miles south of
the Bullwinkle fixed platform.
ExxonMobil’s first recent US
Gulf wildcatting effort was at
the Antrim prospect last year
on Green Canyon Block 364 with
the drillship Noble Bob Douglas.
No results have been disclosed.
BP has also kicked off drilling
efforts in the vicinity of its Na
Kika platform, a broader push
as the company looks to new
opportunity around its existing
four Gulf hubs, which also
include Thunder Horse, Atlantis
and Mad Dog.
The UK supermajor was
granted a permit in March of
this year for a prospect called
Manuel in MC 520, where
work is being carried out by
the Seadrill drillship West
Capricorn in about 6616 feet of
water.
The next prospect would
appear to be a block southward
at a well called Isabela 2 in
Mississippi Canyon 562, which
could get under way as soon as
1 August.
Drilling would be expected to
take 184 days, or wrap up by the
end of January 2019.
The site lies 64 miles offshore
in 6436 feet of water.
Meanwhile, US independent
Anadarko has filed an
exploration plan for a new
wildcat in the western deepwater
US Gulf in the central part
of the Alaminos Canyon area.
Government records indicate
a plan was filed by the operator
on 5 June spanning Alaminos
Canyon blocks 380 and 424,
which lie in water depths of
between 6500 and 7200 feet.
Anadarko operates both
blocks with a 67.5% stake, after
having farmed in to the pair in
August 2016. Norway’s Equinor,
Contract: the drillship Noble
Bob Douglas is to work for
ExxonMobil in the US Gulf
Photo: NOBLE
the original lessee, holds a 22.5%
stake and Spain’s Repsol a 10%
stake on both tracts.
The leases are due to expire in
January 2019. The blocks were
purchased for about $82 million
during the heady days of high
oil prices in August of 2008.
Shell could also be the
first company other than
US independent Cobalt
International Energy to drill in
the promising but undeveloped
Lower Tertiary discovery of
North Platte in the ultra-deep
US Gulf.
The Anglo-Dutch supermajor
filed a plan last year to drill the
Caramel Keg prospect on Garden
Banks 961 and 962, the closest of
which is just three miles away
from the discovery in Garden
Banks 959.
Shell is also targeting a new
exploration prospect near its
ultra-deep Stones floating
production, storage and
offloading unit in the Gulf of
Mexico, covering up to eight
well locations at Stones SouthWest
on Walker Ridge Blocks 594
and 595.
Drilling the ultra-deep
well some 184 miles offshore
could start as soon as July and
would be expected to take
225 days, which according to
that schedule would see the
operation wrap up in February.
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