Houston-based independent Anadarko Petroleum has made an important gas discovery at the Kronos well, offshore northwest Colombia, in the southern Caribbean.
The Bolette Dolphin (pictured, right) drilled the Kronos-1 well, which sits in a frontier deepwater basin in the Fuerte Sur block, to 12,200ft (3720m) deep, encountering 130-230ft (40-70m) of net natural gas pay in the upper objective, and proving the presence of a working petroleum system, Anadarko said. The water depth at the field was 5195ft (1584m).
“We are pleased to announce this discovery in Colombian Caribbean deepwater, this time accompanied by Anadarko,” said partner Ecopetrol’s President Juan Carlos Echeverry. ”This discovery adds to the one accomplished in December at the Orca-1 well, located in the deepwater of Tayrona block offshore Guajira, where we are partners with Petrobras, Repsol and Statoil. These results are very important and confirm the potential of the Colombian Caribbean petroleum system in a vast area and are aligned with Ecopetrol´s new strategy, in which one of the key areas is the exploration on high potential marine basins.”
And Ecopetrol’s strategy mirrors sentiments made by Colombia’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Tomás González Estrada at this year’s CERAWeek conference in Houston, where Estrada said Colombia needs to focus on three areas: unconventionals, deepwater, and enhanced oil recovery.
Anadarko stated in its most recent operations report that drilling will continue on Kronos-1 in order to meet a deeper objective. The drillship is expected to then mobilize to drill the Calasu prospect in the Fuerte Norte block, approximately 100mi northeast of Kronos. The Calasu prospect is a large four-way structure on the north end of the block complex. Anadarko operates Kronos and Calasu with 50% working interest. Colombia’s Ecopetrol holds the remaining 50% interest.
The Bolette Dolphin is a dynamically positioned drillship owned by Fred. Olsen Energy. It is rated for water depths of 12,000ft and drilling depths down to 40,000ft. It features a GustoMSC P10000 design, and was built in 2014 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea.
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| Map of Grand Fuerte area from Anadarko |
CGG completed 5500sq km 3D survey of the Grand Fuerte block for Anadarko in 2013. The French company announced earlier this year that it would conduct another 16,314sq km survey Grand Col area, where Anadarko holds 100% working interest in the COL-1 and COL-2 blocks. Anadarko anticipates the survey will be completed by 4Q 2015, according to Anadarko's operations report.
Elsewhere, Anadarko said it has spud its third appraisal well in at the Shenandoah field, in the US Gulf of Mexico, and plans to commence drilling on an appraisal well to the previously announced Yeti discovery, which encountered more than 270ft of net oil pay.
Despite this good news for Anadarko’s exploration efforts, the company’s quarterly report reflected a story similar to most operators, posting a net income of US$61 million, down from $227 million the same quarter last year.
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CERA15: Colombia in the spotlight
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