ExxonMobil Puts More Wildcats On 2017 Calendar

Fresh off another win offshore Guyana, with the Payara-2 well hitting 18 m (59 ft) of oil-bearing sandstone, ExxonMobil Corp. said it will test news plays at the Turbot and Ranger prospects offshore Guyana on the Stabroek Block.

The company plans to test the plays in third-quarter 2017 and has plans for an additional exploration well the following quarter.

Like other wells drilled in the area by ExxonMobil, Turbot targets the Upper Cretaceous.

“It's still a stratigraphic trap, but it is in a different fairway or depositional environment than Liza, Snoek and Payara,” ExxonMobil’s Jeff Woodbury said during an earnings call.

He added analysis on the Ranger prospect, likely a structural trap, suggests a large carbonate buildup.

The latest Payara well brought the estimated gross recoverable resources for the Stabroek Block up to as much as 2.75 Bboe. The discovery boosts the Payara resource estimates to about 500 MMboe.

ION Targets Mexican Ridges In 3-D Reimaging Program Offshore Mexico

Amid continued interest in hydrocarbon resources offshore Mexico, ION Geophysical Corp. has announced a new 3-D multiclient broadband reimaging program in the western Gulf of Mexico, the company said in a news release.

Using the Mexican National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) data library, the program targets the Mexican Ridges, which ION said is “known for the complex geology and compressional folds.”

ION said the Mexican Ridges 3-D reimaging program contains eight surveys that cover about 28,800 sq km (11,120 sq miles) over the Mexican Ridges fold belt. Fast-track data are available for the deepwater lease round (Round 2.4) scheduled for January 2018, and final products will be available for future license rounds in the area, the company said.

“There is strong continued client interest in Mexico and demand for higher resolution data following the historic Zama-1 discovery. With the success of our Campeche reimaging program, ION is expanding its multiclient data offshore Mexico,” Ken Williamson, executive vice president and COO of ION’s E&P technology and services group, said in the release. “Our regional expertise in the Gulf of Mexico has enabled us to refine and test our geological understanding using the 3-D data and provide cost-effective, high-quality imaging to improve prospect identification and de-risk multiple exploration opportunities in the basin.”

Cairn Hits More Pay Offshore Senegal

The SNE North-1 exploration well offshore Senegal hit oil and gas, adding to the hydrocarbon potential north of the SNE Field, Cairn Energy said Aug. 7.

“The SNE North well results are encouraging in terms of further prospectivity and implications for the full block potential offshore Senegal,” Cairn Energy CEO Simon Thomson said in a news release.

Drilled to a total depth of 2,837 m (9,308 ft), the well hit a 24-m (79-ft) gross hydrocarbon column across three intervals, about 11 m (36 ft) net of condensate and gas in the primary objective and about 4 m (13 ft) net of oil in the deeper secondary objective, the company said. The oil type was described as slightly lighter than that encountered at the SNE Field.

SNE North-1, which is being plugged and abandoned with the Stena DrillMAX rig released, is located in about 900 m (2,953 ft) water depth in the Sangomar Deep Offshore Block. The well is about 15 km (9 miles) north of the SNE-1 discovery.

“Further work is being undertaken to establish the potential commerciality of this discovery and to integrate the results with the block wide data gathered to date,” Cairn said in the release. “The well result has positive implications for further hydrocarbon potential to the north of the structural trend containing the SNE Field and SNE North-1 discovery well, as well as for broader exploration potential in the permit.”

The discovery brings Cairn’s five-well 2017 drilling campaign to a close. Cairn and its partners are now considering exploration drilling in the Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangomar Deep production-sharing contract area, the company said.

Greece Launches New Offshore Oil, Gas Tenders

Greece launched two tenders on Aug. 7 for offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the west and south of the country, the energy ministry said.

The move follows expressions of interest by a consortium of Total, ExxonMobil and Hellenic Petroleum for exploration in two sites off the island of Crete and by Greece’s Energean for a block in the Ionian Sea in western Greece.

Investors will have 90 days to submit offers to the Hellenic Hydrocarbons Resources Management from when the announcement is published in the European Union's official gazette.

Greece has launched a program to discover more oil and gas, encouraged by recent large gas finds off Israel and Cyprus and spurred on by its protracted financial crisis.

In May it granted a concession to Hellenic Petroleum for onshore exploration at two sites in the west of the country, and to privately held Energean for another block.

Energean is currently the country’s only offshore oil producer, in northeastern Greece, with an average production of 3,500 bbl/d in 2016.

EMGS Reports Multiclient Sales In Barents Sea

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) has entered a prefunding and late sales agreement related to 3-D controlled-source electromagnetic data surveys in the Barents Sea offshore Norway, the company said in a news release.

The agreement represents revenues of about $1.8 million. Plans are for the data to be acquired during third-quarter 2017.

—Staff & Reuters Reports

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