Operator Shell has spudded its latest frontier deepwater wildcat well off the coast of French Guiana.

According to partner Northern Petroleum, the GM-ES-3 well began drilling on 29 December 2012. The probe is being drilled by the Stena IceMAX drillship and is the second in a four-well programme in the Guyane Maritime Permit, after its first in 2011 successfully hit oil on the Zaedyus prospect. The latest well will test the Priodontes prospect and provide further geological data critical to gaining a better understanding of the potential of this area as a new offshore oil province, said Northern.

Northern, through a 50% holding in Northpet Investments Ltd., owns a net 1.25% interest in the Guyane Maritime licence. Its partners are Shell (45%), Total (25%), Tullow Oil (27.5%), and Wessex Exploration (also a 1.25% holder through owning the remaining 50% interest in Northpet).

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director of Northern, stated: “The joint venture with Shell, Total, Tullow and Wessex is continuing upon its vigorous follow up of the successful GM-ES-1 discovery in late 2011.”

The Zaedyus discovery well encountered 72 m (236 ft) of net oil pay in two turbidite sand systems, successfully proving that the Jubilee play is mirrored across the Atlantic from West Africa, according to previous recent statements by Northern.

The GM-ES-3 well will target the Priodontes turbidite fan exploration prospect, which is also within the larger main Cingulata fan system that also contains the Zaedyus discovery fan. The well will be targeting several Cretaceous aged reservoir intervals. The objective of the well is to explore for significant oil volumes in the fan, help determine the Cingulata sub surface model, possibly determine an oil water contact, assess the reservoir potential in the north-western part of the larger Cingulata fan system and better understand the potential of the entire block.

GM-ES-3 is expected to take approximately three to four months to drill.