Karoon Energy Ltd., Melbourne, has contracted the dynamic positioning drillship Stena Forth to drill the company’s Marina-1 wildcat in the Tumbes basin offshore Peru.
The well, in Karoon’s 40% owned and operated Block Z-38, is scheduled to be spudded early in first quarter 2020. Water depth is 350 m and the well will be drilled to a TD of 3,026 m.
Marina prospect is a large fault-bounded structure with prospective reservoirs at multiple levels from 900-2,900 m subsea. The feature has a prospective resource of 256 million barrels of oil and, if successful, would de-risk a number of other prospects in the block as well as in Karoon’s 100%-owned Area 73 technical evaluation permit to the south.
Karoon said the well is a critical milestone for assessing the prospectivity of the deeper waters off northern Peru. It is the first well to be drilled in Z-38.
The Stena Forth vessel is a recently delivered harsh water drillship with capabilities to drill in far deeper water and much rougher sea states than those found off Peru.
Of Karoon’s JV partners in Z-38, Tullow Oil Ltd. has 35% interest and Pitkin Petroleum 25% (OGJ Online, May 8, 2019).
