Marathon Oil’s chief executive has spelled out his belief that the US Gulf of Mexico is back in a big way, with new enthusiasm from exploration companies spurred on by deeper plays and a forthcoming lease sale.
Roger Jenkins outlined his expectations that the company will remain an active explorer in the US Gulf with a long-term exploration plan in place. Speaking at a Credit Suisse investor conference in Colorado earlier this month, he was asked about the company’s future ambition in the US offshore sector.
“I would expect us to be one of the more active explorers in the next two to three years,” Jenkins told his audience. “We have a long term rig there. We plan to park the rig in the Gulf – the rig is on a development plan today and we drilled Titan.”
Titan, in the De Soto Canyon area, is operated by Murphy Oil with a 50% stake, and is estimated to contain 200 MMboe of gross resources.
Although Jenkins declined to name any specific future wells planned for the GoM in the next couple of years, his slides did indicate plans for at least one other operated well and participation in a non-operated well.
“We didn’t name the opportunities here today,” Jenkins said, but he did provide a clue about future plans: “We probably have five [prospects] to pick two from, and we have both the Miocene amplitude plays, which are very very economic, like Dalmatian, and we have the deeper Miocene sub-salt play and a very very nice position in Norphlet,” he said.
And he continued: “I think we are well positioned there. There is a big lease sale coming up in the Gulf this year for which there will be a lot of competition I am sure. Because the true successful explorers are back in the Gulf, and the Gulf is back,” he said, adding that the costs in the GoM are also higher and that because of those costs there is “a lot of nice forming opportunity on a groundfall basis and we are happy about that”.