HOUSTON, Oct. 31 -- Marathon Oil Co. said Wednesday it has an oil discovery at its Ozona Deep prospect in the Gulf of Mexico.
The wildcat was drilled to 26,352 ft MD in 3,280 ft of water on Garden Banks Block 515. About 345 ft of net pay was encountered in two primary intervals. The well has been logged, fluid samples were taken, and the well was suspended without testing.
Marathon is operator with a 68% working interest. Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Dallas, holds the rest.
Phil Behrman, Marathon's senior vice-president of worldwide exploration said, "This success is a great start to our impact exploration drilling program. Results are within predrill expectations, but further work will be needed to determine 2002 appraisal plans and evaluate possible development options."
Marathon has just begun the drilling program, which includes seven more wells: four in the Gulf of Mexico, two off Nova Scotia, and one off Angola. Three wells are drilling.
Scott Sheffield, Pioneer chairman and CEO, said, "Ozona Deep has the potential to become Pioneer's fifth major project to add significant future production, the fourth in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. We have participated in 17 deepwater wells during the last 3 years, 13 of which have been successful. In mid-2002, we expect to begin to see the impact of this success when the Canyon Express system comes on stream, followed by new production from Devils Tower and Falcon fields in early 2003."
