Gulf of Mexico Lucius field unitization completed

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 18 -- Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said a unitization agreement was finalized with ExxonMobil Corp. and co-owners for the development of the Lucius field on Keathley Canyon Blocks 874, 875, 918, and 919 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

The Lucius interest owners also entered into an agreement with Hadrian South co-venturers whereby the Lucius facility will process natural gas from Hadrian South field in return for a production handling fee and reimbursement for any required facility upgrades.

"We expect Lucius to be among the most economically efficient projects in our portfolio, while providing important infrastructure in an emerging area of the Gulf of Mexico," said Al Walker, Anadarko president and chief operating officer.

Walker said orders have been placed for long-lead items, including a truss-spar floating production facility with a capacity to process more than 80,000 bo/d and 450 MMscfd of natural gas. He expects the co-owners to sanction the project later this year and production to start in 2014.

A recent extended well test with equipment-constrained rates flowed more than 15,000 b/d of 29° gravity oil, indicating that Lucius can be developed with a minimal number of wells, Anadarko said.

An appraisal well 3,200 ft south of the December 2009 Lucius oil and gas discovery cut nearly three times the pay thickness of the discovery well. The updip appraisal well, drilled to about 20,000 ft in 7,100 ft of water on Keathley Canyon Block 875 encountered almost 600 net ft of light oil pay with additional gas-condensate pay in thick subsalt Pliocene and Miocene sands, Anadarko said (OGJ, Feb. 1, 2010, Newsletter).

On Hadrian South in Keathley Canyon 964, ExxonMobil encountered 200 ft of gas pay in Pliocene sandstone reservoirs while drilling in 2009 (OGJ Online, June 8, 2011).

Anadarko will operate the Lucius unit with a 35% working interest. Co-owners in Lucius unit include Plains Exploration & Production Co. 23.3%, ExxonMobil 15%, Apache Deepwater LLC 11.7%, Petrobras 9.6%, and Eni Petroleum 5.4%.