Page 14 - NorthAmOil Week 43 2020

NorthAmOil PERFORMANCE NorthAmOil

LLOG makes Gulf

discovery ahead of

more storm-related

disruptions

GULF OF MEXICO PRIVATELY owned LLOG Exploration has
reported a second discovery at its Spruance find
in the US Gulf of Mexico, which has allowed it
to further delineate the prospect and finalise a
development plan for the field.
The initial Spruance discovery, located in
Ewing Bank (EW) 877/921, was discovered by
LLOG and its partners in mid-2019 via a sub-
salt exploratory well in 1,600 feet (488 metres) of
water. The EW 877 #1 well was drilled to a total
depth of 17,000 feet (5,182 metres) and logged
roughly 150 net feet (46 metres) of oil pay in
multiple Miocene sands, which LLOG describes
as “high quality”. another hurricane approached the region dur-
The second well, EW 921 #1, was drilled to a ing a particularly busy Atlantic hurricane season.
total depth of 16,600 feet (5,060 metres) in early Hurricane Zeta, which made landfall in Louisi-
October from the same surface location as the ana as a Category 2 storm on October 28, is the
discovery well. LLOG said in an October 26 27th named storm of the current season, bring-
statement that the well had successfully delin- ing this year within reach of the record of 28 in
eated the main field pays and logged additional a season. It also marked the 11th landfall on the
oil pay in the exploratory portion of the well. It continental US in 2020, breaking the previous
found a total of over 200 net feet (61 metres) of record of nine in a season.
oil. The company has scheduled both wells for The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental
completion in 2021, with first oil sales set for Enforcement (BSEE) reported that as of Octo-
early 2022. ber 28, personnel had been evacuated from a
LLOG operates Spruance with a 22.64% total of 228 production platforms, or 35.5% of
working interest, while Ridgewood Energy the 643 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mex-
LLOG’s owns 23.89%, EnVen holds 13.5%, Beacon ico. Staff had also been evacuated from three
Asset Holdings has an 11.61% stake, Houston non-dynamically positioned rigs, equivalent to
announcement Energy owns 11.2%, Red Willow holds 11.15% 30% of 10 such rigs that are currently operating
came as and CL&F has the remaining 6% interest. In in the Gulf, while six dynamically positioned
July, the partners signed a production-han-
rigs had moved off location out of the hurri-
producers in dling agreement (PHA) for the processing of cane’s projected path.
According to the BSEE, around 1.23mn bar-
output from Spruance via a 14-mile (23-km)
the Gulf were subsea tieback to the Lobster platform in EW rels per day (bpd) of oil and 1.21bn cubic feet
873, which is operated by EnVen. The Lobster (34.13mn cubic metres) per day of natural gas
suspending platform is located 130 miles (209 km) south of were shut in as of October 28. This accounts for
operations New Orleans. 66.6% of oil production and 44.5% of gas output
“The results of the second well confirmed our in the Gulf.
once again as understanding of the field’s reserve potential,” Gulf producers have had to shut in output
commented LLOG’s president and CEO, Philip and evacuate staff several times this sum-
another hurricane LeJeune. “We are also pleased to have finalised mer already as a series of hurricanes passed
development plans for the field. By utilising the through the region. This comes during a year
approached. EnVen-operated Lobster facility, LLOG will be that had already been characterised by severe
able to efficiently develop Spruance in a cost-ef- disruption to oil and gas output as a result of
fective manner with an efficient cycle-time.” the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. How-
ever, given the oversupplied market, some view
Another hurricane production outages as a positive for crude
LLOG’s announcement came as producers in the prices, which are otherwise under considerable
Gulf were suspending operations once again as downward pressure.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 43 29•October•2020