MELBOURNE�BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. has drilled a successful appraisal of its 1998 Atlantis oil discovery in the Atwater Foldbelt region of the ultradeepwater US Gulf of Mexico. The company announced this week that the well, Atlantis-2, had found a significant oil zone in Miocene age sands with net pay some 300 ft thick.
The dynamically positioned drillship C.R. Luigs, owned by Global Marine Inc., is drilling ahead towards additional prospective zones deeper in the section, says BHP. Planned total depth of the well is 5,670 m; water depth is 2,035 m. The find is on Green Canyon Block 743.
Participants in the well are operator BHP, 44%, and BP Amoco PLC, 56%.
Atlantis is one of three BHP-BP Amoco discoveries in the region. Neptune, 25 km northeast of Atlantis, was found in 1995, and Mad Dog�successfully appraised earlier this year�lies about 25 km southwest of Atlantis. Mad Dog 2 encountered an oil column 265 ft thick. The Atlantis-1 discovery was drilled about 5 km north east of the current appraisal well.
Overall reserves for the area will be determined following further evaluation, but BHP says it expects to find several hundred million barrels. The hope is that this Gulf of Mexico area will go a long way toward replacing the company�s dwindling reserves in Australia's Bass Strait.
Further evaluation of the Atwater Foldbelt will take place later in the year when the drillship moves to the Chinook prospect. BHPP will also drill another appraisal well on Mad Dog.
