Noble Energy has announced the discovery of oil at its Santiago exploration prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Around 60 feet of oil pay was identified in the well, which was located in 6,500 feet of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 519 and drilled to a total depth of approximately 18,920 feet.
Noble Energy is the operator at Santiago, with a 23.25 percent working interest. Houston Energy holds 10 percent, Red Willow Offshore has 20.25 percent, and BP Exploration & Production holds the remaining 46.5 percent.
Santiago is the third discovery in Noble’s so-called Galapagos development, following previous discoveries at Santa Cruz and Isabela. Total gross resources discovered in the Galapagos project, including the Santiago well, are estimated to be 130 million barrels of oil equivalent. Approximately 75 percent of the discovered resources are oil.
Commenting on the news, Charles D. Davidson, Noble’s chairman and CEO, said: "The discovery at Santiago is a great way to resume our drilling program in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well results were very consistent with our pre-drill expectations, and our teams did an outstanding job in the midst of a changing operating environment.
“We expect all three wells at Galapagos to be online in early 2012, and we are increasing the project's total net production impact to Noble Energy to over ten thousand barrels of oil per day. This major project will deliver significant near-term production and cash flow for our business."
In February, Noble was the first company to receive a drilling permit—for the Santiago prospect—following the deepwater Gulf of Mexico moratorium imposed in June last year. The company resumed drilling in April.
Noble has said it will now proceed immediately with completion operations at Santiago, which are expected to last around eight weeks. It then plans to return to drilling its Deep Blue prospect on Green Canyon Block 723.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Noble has operations onshore in the US, in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, offshore Eastern Mediterranean, and offshore West Africa.
