When it comes to oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi Canyon fields continue to dominate; however, operators have had much success recently in other areas, including the Green Canyon area.
The top 20 wells based on cumulative oil and gas production in February 2015 are all located in blocks in these two fields based on data from TGS Longbow. Mississippi Canyon blocks 807 and 776—homes of deepwater fields that include Shell’s Mars B and the BP-operated Thunder Horse—are the most prolific.
In recent months, Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas has hit net oil pay in the GoM Miocene play with its Copper and Holstein Deep prospects in the Green Canyon area. But Repsol’s exploration efforts with the Leon prospect in Keathley Canyon, hitting 492 feet of net oil pay in the Lower Tertiary, shows the GoM’s resources are widespread and plentiful.
Interested in learning more about the top 20 producing wells in the GoM, the top fields by reserves and getting details on recent GoM discoveries? Take a look this new monthly three-chart feature brought by E&P.
According to the U.S. Energy Information, oil production from the GoM federal waters accounts for 17% of the total U.S. crude oil production. But interest has steadily picked up following the end of the deepwater drilling moratorium prompted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident.
If all goes as planned, 13 fields—mostly in the Mississippi Canyon area—will start up within the next two years. The new projects, combined with output from existing fields, are anticipated to push GoM production to 1.52 MMbbl/d in 2015 and slightly higher in 2016 to 1.61 MMbbl/d, according to the EIA.
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