Pay nearly tripled at gulf's Lucius find

Alan Petzet
OGJ Chief Editor-Exploration

HOUSTON, Jan. 27 -- An appraisal well 3,200 ft south of an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. group’s December 2009 Lucius oil and gas discovery in the ultradeepwater Gulf of Mexico 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 some 260 miles off Louisiana, encountered almost 600 net ft of light oil pay with additional gas-condensate pay in thick subsalt Pliocene and Miocene sands, Anadarko said. The discovery well found more than 200 ft of pay (OGJ Online, Dec. 10, 2009).

Anadarko described Lucius as a “major discovery” without giving a resource estimate. Wood Mackenzie Consultants floated an initial estimate of 150-200 million bbl of oil and natural gas liquids and around 1 tcf recoverable. Lucius is likely large enough for stand-alone development, the consultant said.

Anadarko said, “The reservoirs are characterized by excellent porosity and permeability and contain high-quality oil. We anticipate additional appraisal activity in 2010 as we continue to evaluate development options for this very large accumulation.”

Lucius is 70 miles south of infrastructure at the Red Hawk spar and 7.5 miles east of Chevron’s Buckskin, a 2009 Paleogene discovery (OGJ Online, Feb. 6, 2009).

Anadarko operates Lucius with 50% working interest. Plains Exploration & Production Co. has 33.33%, and Mariner Energy Inc. has 16.67%.

Contact Alan Petzet at [email protected].