Anadarko strikes oil in deepwater Gulf

Offshore staff

HOUSTON -- Anadarko drilled an oil discovery at its Mission Deep prospect on Green Canyon block 955 in 2,225 m (7,300 ft) of water.

According to Anadarko and partner Devon Energy, the discovery well, drilled to 7,620 m (25,000 ft) TD, encountered more than 76 m (250 ft) of net oil pay in the primary middle Miocene objective.

The partners plan to delineate the reservoir by deepening the discovery well to a secondary lower Tertiary objective, and drilling a sidetrack well.

"Mission Deep is our ninth discovery out of 12 tests so far this year in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, following up on last year's deepwater exploration program in which we were successful on five of nine," says Bob Daniels, Anadarko's senior VP of worldwide exploration.

The company plans to drill 10 to 15 exploration tests over the next two years to evaluate the potential within its focused position in the Miocene and lower Tertiary plays.

"With 15 additional prospects in our Miocene inventory and nearly 20 lower Tertiary prospects, we are very optimistic about continued success from our Gulf exploration program in 2007 and beyond," says Stephen Hadden, Devon's senior VP of E&P. "On a net un-risked basis, our deepwater Gulf prospect inventory represents up to 7 Bbbl of resource potential."

Anadarko (operator) and Devon each hold a 50% working interest in Mission Deep.

12/11/06