Independent E&P company Talos Energy has completed its Tornado II deepwater drilling program, located in the Phoenix Field of the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, extending the proved limit of the original Tornado discovery.
The Tornado II drilling program consisted of an exploratory test penetration in a fault block adjacent to the company’s initial Tornado discovery in 2016, followed by a sidetrack well to delineate the initial reservoir.
According to Talos’ statement on Thursday, the Tornado II exploratory test penetration was drilled to a total vertical depth of approximately 21,107 feet and logged approximately 222 feet measured depth (176 feet total vertical depth) of net oil pay across the B-5 and B-6 Sands.
The discovered resource increases the company’s existing drilling inventory and will be considered in the development of the 2018 drilling campaign. As of September 2017, the cumulative gross production from the initial Tornado discovery was 5.7 million barrels of oil equivalent at a gross daily rate of approximately 16,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The Tornado II sidetrack delineation well extending the proved limit of the original Tornado discovery, known as the GC 281 #2ST well, logged approximately 297 feet total measured depth (283 feet total vertical depth) of net oil pay across the B-5 and B-6 Sands. The GC 281 #2ST well was drilled to a total vertical depth of approximately 21,057 feet. The well will be tied into the existing Phoenix Field subsea infrastructure, which flows to the Helix Producer I (HP-I), a dynamically positioned floating production facility. Initial production from the GC 281 #2ST well is expected to start in December of 2017.
“The Talos Energy team’s success in the Tornado area of the Phoenix Field continues,” said Tim Duncan , President and Chief Executive Officer of Talos Energy LLC. “The Tornado II drilling program gives us another high impact well with near term production potential and future drilling inventory with compelling economics. I am proud of the achievements made by our technical and operational teams, who worked collaboratively in a safe and efficient manner to deliver this project ahead of schedule and under budget.”
The Tornado I and Tornado II drilling programs executed during 2016 and 2017 have provided four penetrations in the Tornado area to fully delineate and exploit the original discovery. The four penetrations have logged a total of approximately 1,370 feet total measured depth (1,170 feet total vertical depth) of net oil pay.
To execute the Tornado II drilling program, Talos contracted the Ensco 8503, a dynamically positioned floating drilling rig that drilled the company’s historic Zama-1 discovery in Mexico, with initial estimated gross original oil in place ranging from 1.4 to 2.0 billion barrels. The company has a 65% working interest in the Tornado wells and is the operator, with Deep Gulf Energy III owning the remaining 35% working interest.