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Petroleum News: Total, Hess confirm deepwater Gulf finds

EXTRACT: Last November Total began to expand its deepwater Gulf of Mexico position in a “like kind” exchange with Shell Exploration & Production. Under the agreement, Total would convey its interests in four onshore fields in South Texas for Shell’s 17 percent interest in the deepwater Tahiti field, among the largest finds in the Gulf of Mexico.

THE ARTICLE

Both Hess Pony, Total Alaminos Canyon discoveries are oil; sidetrack planned on Hess acreage; Total well confirms structure

Ray Tyson
For Petroleum News
Headline: Total, Hess confirm deepwater Gulf finds

Hess and Total have confirmed separate oil discoveries in deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Hess’ Pony exploratory well, on Green Canyon Block 468, was drilled to a total depth of 32,448 feet and encountered 475 feet of oil saturated sandstones in Miocene age reservoirs, based on wireline log evaluation, Hess said July 13. That is an additional 175 feet of pay from the 300 feet of pay reported by Hess in May, before the well reached touchdown.

Hess said it would next drill an appraisal sidetrack well approximately 4,000 feet to the northeast of the discovery well, adding that whole rock cores and wireline logs would be obtained from the sidetrack. “This information will be used to refine estimates of net pay,” Hess said.

Results to date have been consistent with pre-drill expectations, Hess said, noting that total hydrocarbon resource on the Hess acreage is estimated to be in the range of 100-to 600 million barrels of oil equivalent. Hess holds a 100 percent working interest in the well.

On May 17, Hess announced preliminary drilling results for the Pony prospect based on information collected down to the 29,658-foot level. The company said then additional objective sections were still to be tested beneath the 29,658-foot depth and that a “full suite” of logs were to be run when the discovery well reached total depth.

Total confirms Alaminos Canyon discovery

Meanwhile, France’s Total confirmed a discovery on Alaminos Canyon block 856, the company said July 12, adding that the No. 2 well was drilled in 7,800 feet of water to a total depth of 15,625 feet and encountered 85 feet of oil pay in the main objective.
“This second successful well confirms the extent of the structure,” Total said. “Development options for this block are currently being evaluated.”

The block is roughly 140 miles east of the Texas coast in an area where several discoveries have already been made. Total E&P USA operates the block with a 70 percent interest. Nexen Petroleum holds a 30 percent interest.

Last November Total began to expand its deepwater Gulf of Mexico position in a “like kind” exchange with Shell Exploration & Production. Under the agreement, Total would convey its interests in four onshore fields in South Texas for Shell’s 17 percent interest in the deepwater Tahiti field, among the largest finds in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Tahiti field, operated by Chevron and located in Green Canyon blocks 596, 597, 640 and 641 in about 4,100 feet of water, was announced in April 2002. First production is currently planned for mid-2008 from a floating production facility with daily capacity of 125,000 barrels of oil and 70 million cubic feet of natural gas. In the exchange, Shell acquired the four natural gas fields in South Texas with net production of 107 million cubic feet equivalent per day.

That transaction supported Total’s previously stated strategy of developing medium- to long-term growth projects and, in the United States, to focus activities on offshore Gulf of Mexico.

Last April Total announced successful results from its Alaminos Canyon block 856 No. 1 discovery well, drilled in 7,600 feet of water to a total depth of 14,600 feet. The well encountered about 290 feet of pay in two oil-bearing zones. The No. 2 appraisal well was drilled to further assess the extent of the accumulation.

Last February Total announced that it had a buyer (XTO Energy) for two mature onshore fields, Bethany and Maben, in East Texas and Mississippi. Total said with that sale the company would “focus its exploration and production projects in the United States on the offshore Gulf of Mexico.”

Total also acquires regas rights

Additionally, Total LNG USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Total, acquired liquefied natural gas regasification capacity rights for the Sabine Pass LNG regasification terminal to be built in Louisiana by Sabine Pass LNG, L.P., a fully owned limited partnership of Cheniere Energy Inc.
Under the terms of the agreement, Total will have the right to 1 billion cubic feet per day of regasification capacity for a period of 20 years beginning in 2009. The agreement was pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build the Pass terminal.

The LNG will come from Total’s interests in several projects worldwide and notably from the Middle East and West Africa.

“The strong expansion of our natural gas trading and marketing activities in the North American gas market will be increasingly based on the importation of LNG,” said Yves-Louis Darricarrère, Total’s president of power and gas. “This capacity at the Sabine Pass regasification terminal, by assuring a market access for the group’s production, provides another opportunity for Total to grow our global LNG business.”

Total has interests in six liquefaction plants worldwide and interests in three LNG regasification terminal projects.

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