OFFSHORE Brazil may be the current star, but large new hydrocarbon finds have lately been reported on both sides of the Atlantic, in particular offshore Angola and, stretching the definition of Atlantic a bit, the US Gulf of Mexico.
Both BP and Eni have made what are likely to be substantial finds on Angolan blocks 31 and 15, respectively, while Petrobras’s incredible run of luck continues in the Santos Basin and BP has scored again in US waters.
Dione is BP’s 16th consecutive oil find on block 31, where the first stage of a multi-phase deepwater development is now under way.
On block 15, in 1,421m of water and some 350km from Luanda, Eni drilled exploration well Ngoma-1 to a total vertical depth of 3,383m (11,100ft) and made its discovery in highly permeable Miocene sands with an oil column of 127m. Further drilling is planned.
In the US sector of the Gulf of Mexico, BP has made an oil discovery with its Freedom exploration well drilled on Mississippi Canyon block 948. Drilled using the Transocean semi-submersible drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, the Freedom well encountered more than 168m (550ft) net of hydrocarbon-bearing sands in Middle and Lower Miocene reservoirs.