U.S.-based oil company Hess said Wednesday it had made an oil discovery at the Pickerel-1 exploration well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The well is located in Mississippi Canyon Block 727, where Hess holds a 100% stake.
The well encountered approximately 90 feet of net pay in high quality, oil bearing, Miocene-age reservoir.
Hess plans to tie back the offshore discovery to the Tubular Bells offshore production platform. First oil from the discovery is expected in mid-2024.
In the second quarter, production from the Gulf of Mexico net to Hess was 32,000 boepd, compared with 29,000 boepd in the prior-year quarter.
Back in May 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast that U.S. Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) marketed natural gas production would average 2.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2023 and decrease to 2.1 Bcf/d in 2024, while GOM crude oil production would average 1.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023 and in 2024.
The EIA said at the time that it expected seven new projects to come online in 2023 and 2024 in the Gulf of Mexico, adding that it expected those new projects to contribute 6% of natural gas production and over 15% of crude oil production to total GOM production by the end of 2024.