Noble Energy has plugged and abandoned its Humpback well in waters off the coast of Falkland after non-commercial quantities of oil and gas were discovered.
The company said a full assessment and integration of drilling results was on-going to determine the remaining exploration potential in the southern area license.
Noble said the rig which drilled the Humpback well will be released to another operator before returning to the company to spud the Rhea prospect later this year or early next year.
Exploration expense for the third quarter of the year is expected to be $200million, which includes the majority of net costs related to the Humpback well.
The firm also announced the Big Ben oil development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico commenced production earlier this month.
The single well field is expected to reach a gross production rate of 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day over the next couple of weeks.
Gary Willingham, Noble Energy’s executive vice president of operations, said: ‘We continue to build on our strong track record of major project execution with Big Bend coming online less than three years from discovery and within our sanctioned budget.
“Big Bend is the first of three major projects planned to come online for us in the Gulf of Mexico over the next nine months, contributing significant oil production and cash flow to the business.
“Short cycle times to first production, strong well deliverability, and low production costs from our Gulf of Mexico projects deliver attractive returns even in today’s environment.”
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