ExxonMobil's deepwater Mesurado-1 exploration well offshore Liberia, West Africa, is being plugged and abandoned after finding no hydrocarbons.
Drilling started on the well, Exxon's first in the country, in Block LB-13, 50mi offshore Liberia in 2500m water depth, using Seadrill's West Saturn drillship, on 21 November. Final total depth on 17 December, says partner Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COP), which holds 17% interest.
The well, targeting oil in a sequence of Late Cretaceous Santonian aged sands, intersected 145m (475ft) of net sand of which 118m (387ft) was deemed to be reservoir quality. But, no hydrocarbons were indicated by the logging while drilling operations performed across the targeted intervals.
Exxon advised COP that no further logging operations will be done and that the well will be plugged and abandoned.
"We are naturally disappointed by the lack of hydrocarbons in the targeted reservoir sands in the Mersurado-1 well," said COP CEO Arthur Millholland. "The targeted Santonian sand sequence and thickness intersected was in accordance with our seismic interpretation. The lack of hydrocarbons at this location, where our seismic data presented attributes indicative of hydrocarbons will cause us to do additional work on the 3D seismic over the block, and reevaluate the other leads we have mapped on LB-13."
Millholland added: "The company holds an attractive oil appraisal and development project offshore Nigeria on OPL 226. Appraisal drilling operations are planned to commence in late 2017. These operations will continue to add value to the company."
image from COPL.
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