MORE DISCOVERIES TURN UP IN DEEPWATER GULF

The deepwater Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico has yielded two more potentially hefty strikes. Conoco Inc. owns interests in both of them. It calls the discoveries off Louisiana "potentially significant accumulations" of oil and gas. Log analyses and wireline tests confirmed hydrocarbons in each well. In 4,350 ft of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 211, Exxon Corp. and Conoco logged five sands at 10,000-13,000 ft. The pay zones, under a 3,000 ft thick layer of salt, hold

May 20, 1991

2 min read

The deepwater Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico has yielded two more potentially hefty strikes.

Conoco Inc. owns interests in both of them. It calls the discoveries off Louisiana "potentially significant accumulations" of oil and gas.

Log analyses and wireline tests confirmed hydrocarbons in each well.

In 4,350 ft of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 211, Exxon Corp. and Conoco logged five sands at 10,000-13,000 ft. The pay zones, under a 3,000 ft thick layer of salt, hold potential reserves estimated at 100-200 million bbl of oil equivalent (BOE).

Exxon, operator, and Conoco each hold a 50% interest in the discovery,

The companies also hold interests of as much as 50% in 22 tracts in the vicinity of Block 211 and 100% interests in five additional tracts each.

Following acquisition this year of 3-D seismic data, Exxon and Conoco plan delineation drilling in 1992 to test more objectives and confirm the size of the Block 211 discovery.

Meanwhile, in 2,900 ft of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 243, Conoco and Oryx Energy Co., Dallas, found oil and gas/condensate in five Upper Pliocene sands at 6,000-11,000 ft. Reserves amount to an estimated 80-150 million BOE for the strike, in which operator Conoco holds a two-thirds interest and Oryx one-third.

In addition to their interests in Block 243, Conoco and Oryx hold similar interests in seven adjoining blocks, six of which were acquired last March in OCS Sale 131.

Block 211 is about 50 miles offshore, Block 243 about 30 miles.

Earlier, Shell Oil Co. and partner BP Exploration disclosed they had cut a net 440 ft of oil bearing sand at a wildcat in Mississippi Canyon Block 763, about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans (OGJ, May 6, p. 42).