By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, June 14 -- Murphy Oil Corp., El Dorado, Ark., said Thursday it found more reserves with its Front Runner South sidetrack on Green Canyon Block 339 in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Front Runner prospect is on Blocks 338 and 339 in 3,500 ft of water. The discovery well found 850 ft of pay, and Murphy drilled a sidetrack that confirmed the existence of other field pays downdip (OGJ Online, Mar. 27, 2001).
Murphy then sidetracked the discovery well to the Front Runner South prospect (OGJ Online, May 24, 2001).
The hole was drilled to 21,359 ft TD (20,072 ft TVD) and encountered more than 400 net ft of hydrocarbons in two zones.
Murphy said the reserve estimate is now expected to exceed the earlier projection of 40-60 million boe. It was considering several appraisal options for Front Runner South.
Claiborne Deming, Murphy's president and CEO, said, "Front Runner and Front Runner South represent major discoveries for Murphy Oil and its partners. The Front Runner partnership has 13 contiguous blocks under lease on which several drillable prospects have already been identified."
Murphy is operator with 37.5%, Dominion Exploration & Production Corp. Inc. has 37.5%, and Spinnaker Exploration Co. has 25%.