After drilling the Llano No. 3 well, Houston-based EEX Corp. said Friday it is relocating the semisubmersible rig Glomar Arctic I to nearby Garden Banks Block 344 to test the Jason prospect. The first exploratory well is expected to take 90 days to drill and will target Lower Pliocene and Miocene sands down to 18,000 ft.
EEX is the operator of the block; it has a 60% working interest through the base of the Pliocene interval and a 30% interest in deeper intervals. ExxonMobil Corp. has a 40% interest in both intervals. The well is subject to a joint-venture agreement with UK independent Enterprise Oil PLC under which EEX will be carried for a 30% working interest in the sub-Pliocene interval.
EEX�s total working interest and costs in the well are under discussion among the block interest owners, says the company.
Jason is one of several untested prospects remaining in the blocks around the Llano area. Located 6 miles northeast of Llano, it will test the shallow sands similar to those encountered in the Llano discovery, said Tom Hamilton, chairman, president, and CEO of the company.
In addition to the Jason well, EEX has an interest in a second well drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Drilling began in mid-August at the Mason prospect on Garden Banks 562, operated by Murphy Oil Co., El Dorado, Ark. This well is also expected to take 90 days to reach its targeted depth of 18,000 ft.
EEX and partners snagged this highly sought after block in Western Gulf of Mexico Sale # 171, says EEX official John MacDonald. Initial interests were EEX, 40%; Enterprise, 30%; and PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., 30%.
On Aug. 1, EEX announced that it had entered into an agreement with Murphy Oil to farm out most of its 40% working interest in the Mason prospect in return for a carried 18% working interest in the initial exploration well on the prospect. Murphy, which has a 37% interest in the prospect, calls it Locomotion.
�We believe that these two wells are important steps to further define the potential of the area surrounding our Llano discovery," said David Henderson, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of EEX.