Shell announces third major discovery in Gulf of Mexico

Shell has announced its third major discovery in the Norphlet play in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, with the successful Rydberg exploration well.

Rydberg discovery

“The Rydberg discovery builds upon our leadership position in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and its proximity to our other discoveries in the area make Rydberg particularly exciting. These successes represent the emergence of another hub for Shell’s deep-water activities that should generate shareholder value,” said Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas Director.

The Rydberg well is located 75 miles (120 km) offshore in the Mississippi Canyon Block 525 in 7479 ft (2280 m) of water. It was drilled to a total depth of 26,371 ft (8038 m) and encountered more than 400 ft (122 m) of net oil pay.

Shell and the Norphlet play.

100 million barrels of oil

Shell is completing the full evaluation of the well results however expects the resource base to be approximately 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. Together with the Appomattox and Vicksburg discoveries, this brings the total potential Norphlet discoveries to over 700 million barrels of oil equivalent.

This is the first discovery for the partnership between Shell, Ecopetrol America Inc. and Nexen, an affiliate of CNOOC Limited. The discovery is within 10 miles (16 km) of the planned Appomattox development and the 2013 Vicksburg discovery.

Exploratory well at Gettysburg

Shell and Nexen are following up the Rydberg discovery with an exploratory well at Gettysburg, located in Desoto Canyon Block 398, which is also within 10 miles (16 km) of the planned Appomattox Development.

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/15072014/shell_adds_third_major_discovery_to_gulf_of_mexico_219/