Chevron's Anchor hits big

Chevron encountered a significant oil discovery at its deepwater US Gulf of Mexico Anchor prospect.

The Anchor well was drilled by Pacific Drilling's Pacific Santa Ana drillship. Image from Pacific Drilling.
 

Well No. 2 is located 225km off the coast of Louisiana in the Green Canyon Block 807, in 1580m water depth and was drilled by Pacific Drilling’s Pacific Santa Ana drillship, to a depth of 10,287m.

Chevron says high quality oil pay was found in multiple Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sands at the well and is expecting to begin appraisal drilling later this year.

“Chevron’s leading position in the Gulf, where we are expecting further growth in the near-term from recent project startups at Jack/St. Malo and Tubular Bells, is further underpinned by this discovery,” says Jeff Shellebarger, Chevron North America E&P president. “We currently have five deepwater drillships operating in the Gulf, two of which are focused on exploration activities.”

In August, Chevron junked the Anchor-1 well due to mechanical difficulties. Chevron told OE at the time, “After drilling to 25,800ft at the Anchor prospect, we encountered mechanical problems during tie back operations which prevented further progress, leading us to safely plug and abandon the well.  The operation was carried out incident-free and with no release of any fluids into the environment."

Chevron subsidiary Chevron USA Inc. is the operator, with a 55% working interest in the Anchor prospect. Joint venture partners include Cobalt International Energy (20%), Samson Offshore Anchor (12.5%) and Venari Resources (12.5%).

Anchor is Chevron's second discovery, following the Guadalupe discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in less than a year.

In late October 2014, Chevron announced the significant oil discovery in the Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sandsat Well No. 1 at Guadalupe, located in Keathley Canyon Block 10. Well No. 1 is located about 180 mi. off the Louisiana coast in 3992ft of water and was drilled to a depth of 30,173ft using Transocean’s Discoverer India drilliship.  

Chevron reported more than 30 discoveries worldwide, adding an estimated 1 billion bbl of new resources to its holdings.

Partner Cobalt says it anticipates spudding in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico at the first appraisal well on its North Platte Inboard Lower Tertiary discovery in 1Q 2015 with the new-build Rowan Reliance drillship. This appraisal well is located in Garden Banks Block 959. The company will also begin production from Heidelberg in 2016, that will represent the company’s first production and revenue.

Read more:

Chevron finds oil in deepwater GoM

Chevron quits Anchor-1 well

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