U.S.-based Talos Energy has started initial production from the Tornado II deep water well (GC 281 #2ST), located in the Phoenix field of the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico in approximately 2,700 feet of water.
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 the Tornado II producer to delineate and further develop the initial reservoir.
Talos owns 65% of the well and is the operator. The minority partner in the Tornado and Tornado II wells is Deep Gulf Energy III, LLC, with a 35% working interest.
Initial production testing of the well started on December 15, 2017. During the two-week test period, gross production rates exceeded 12,350 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), which is 83% oil. Coupled with the first Tornado well, the company plans to flow the wells at a combined gross rate of 24,000 – 27,000 boepd.
The Tornado wells flow through the existing Phoenix field subsea infrastructure into the Helix Producer I, a dynamically positioned floating production unit on the adjacent lease, Green Canyon block 237. The existing field infrastructure allows for the expedited and capital efficient hook-up of this and future exploitation and development projects. The original Tornado discovery well produced 7.4 million gross barrels of oil equivalent in the first 15 months of production prior to the Tornado II well coming online.
Tim Duncan , President and Chief Executive Officer of Talos Energy: “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 six weeks ahead of schedule and under budget. We welcome this success as we focus on closing our previously announced combination with Stone Energy Corporation to create a premier off-shore focused exploration and production company.”
To remind, Talos Energy and Stone Energy last November approved the combination of the two companies in an all-stock transaction. At closing, Talos stakeholders will own 63% of the combined company, with Stone shareholders owning the remaining 37%.