Eni has increased its estimate of resources in place at the Amoca field offshore Mexico to 1 billion boe, following a successful appraisal well that is prompting the Italian giant to accelerate its development plan.
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Map from Eni. |
Eni drilled and tested the Amoca-3 well, which has proven the presence of multiple significant oil levels in the Orca and Cinco Presidentes Formations.
Amoca-3 is in the shallow waters of Contractual Area, 1200km west of Ciudad Del Carmen, in the Campeche Bay, at 25m of depth. The appraisal well is situated 1.5km southwest of Amoca-1, and 3km northwest of Amoca-2.
According to Eni, the well was drilled at a total depth of 4330m and encountered 410m of net oil pay (25 - 27 API°), in several high-quality Pliocene reservoir sandstones, of which 300m were found in the deeper sequence of Cinco Presidentes, in various cluster levels of Pliocenic age with good reservoir characteristics.
Eni has temporarily suspended Amoca-3, and plans to use it for production at a later stage. The Area 1 drilling campaign will continue with the first appraisal of the Miztón discovery, followed by other wells that will appraise existing discoveries and explore new undrilled pools, says Eni.
Amoca-3 has raised Eni’s resource estimate of the Amoca field to 1 billion boe in place, and the Area 1 total estimated resource base to 1.3 billion bblin place, of which 90% is oil, with further upside.
During the production test, 45m of the Cinco Presidentes reservoir have been opened to production and the well flowed 6000 b/d of 25 API° crude, Eni says. Following these results, Eni says it will submit an accelerated and phased development plan in 2017 targeting an early production phase with a plateau ranging from 30,000-50,000 b/d with the start of operations planned for early 2019.
“We are very pleased with the results of our exploration and appraisal campaign in Mexico, which demonstrates the validity of our design to cost exploration approach,” says Claudio Descalzi, Eni CEO. “The Amoca field, which is located at a water depth of only 25m, represents an optimal opportunity for a phased development approach with a low breakeven. It is an ideal project in this low oil price environment. Eni’s objective is to become the first international company to establish operating production in Mexico, which would be the first tangible success of the country’s important “Reforma energetica” campaign.”
In March, Eni confirmed the presence of oil in multiple reservoirs at the Amoca-2 well, the first well in a four-well campaign.
Eni holds a 100% stake in the Area 1 production sharing agreement.
Following the result of the first international bid of Ronda 2, Eni was awarded three new blocks in the shallow waters of the Sureste Basin (Block 7, 10 and 14), all as the operator. Eni has been present in Mexico since 2006 and has established its wholly owned subsidiary Eni Mexico S. de RL de CV in 2015.
Earlier today, partners Talos Energy, Sierra Oil and Gas, and Premier Oil made an estimated 1.4-2 billion bbl light oil discovery in the Zama-1 exploration well, offshore Mexico.
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