BLM oil and gas lease sales generated $360 million in 2017
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state offices in 2017 generated nearly $360 million from oil and gas lease sales, an 86-percent increase over the previous year's results of $192.5 million. Among these sales, which together were the highest in nearly a decade, rights to a total of 949 parcels covering 792,823 acres were sold.
Bonus bids from oil and gas leasing in calendar year 2017 came to $358,036,988 in preliminary figures released by the BLM. This is the highest grossing sale year since 2008, when bonus bids came to $408,631,537. This year's sales also easily outpaced 2016's sales of $192,482,007.
BLM New Mexico had the largest sale of the year, generating approximately $130.9 million in bonus bids Sept. 7, while a BLM Wyoming sale Feb. 7, generated $128.9 million in total bonus bids.
For more information, visit www.blm. gov or call (202) 208-3801.
Chevron unveils major oil discovery in deepwater Gulf of Mexico
Chevron Corp. recently unveiled a significant oil discovery at the Ballymore prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Ballymore is located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, approximately three miles from Chevron's Blind Faith platform, in water depth of 6,536 feet. The initial Ballymore well reached total measured depth of 29,194 feet and encountered more than 670 feet of net oil pay with excellent reservoir and fluid characteristics. A sidetrack well is currently being drilled to further assess the discovery and begin to define development options.
Chevron subsidiary Chevron USA Inc. is the operator, with a 60-percent working interest in the Ballymore prospect. The co-owner is TOTAL E&P USA Inc. (40 percent).
For more information, visit www. chevron.com or call (713) 372-0063.
Shell makes large deepwater discovery in Gulf of Mexico
Shell Offshore Inc. has made one of its largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico exploration finds in the past decade from the Whale deepwater well. The well encountered more than 1,400 net feet (427 meters) of oil-bearing pay. Evaluation of the discovery is ongoing, and appraisal drilling is underway to further delineate the discovery and define development options.
Whale is operated by Shell (60 percent) and co-owned by Chevron USA Inc. (40 percent). It was discovered in the Alaminos Canyon Block 772, adjacent to the Shelloperated Silvertip field and approximately 10 miles from the Shell-operated Perdido platform.
This major discovery in a Shell heartland adds to the company's Paleogene exploration success in the Perdido area. Through exploration, Royal Dutch Shell has added more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources in the past decade in the Gulf of Mexico.
For more information, visit www. shell.com or call (832) 337-2034.
CNOOC Ltd.'s Stampede Field commences production in Gulf of Mexico
CNOOC Ltd.'s Stampede Field, located in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, has commenced production.
The Stampede Field is located approximately 185 kilometers south of Fourchon, Louisiana. It is positioned in approximately 1,066 meters of water, with a reservoir depth of 9,100 meters.
The facility is designed for a gross topsides processing capacity of approximately 80,000 barrels of oil per day, 40 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day and 100,000 barrels of water injection capacity per day. Under the current development scope, production facilities will consist of six subsea production wells and four water injection wells tied back to a tension-leg platform. Three production wells are currently completed, and production is expected to ramp up through 2018.
For more information, visit www. cnoocltd.com or call +86 10 8452 3404.
Hess allocates over half of $2.1 billion budget to production
Hess Corp.'s 2018 E&P capital and exploratory budget will be $2.1 billion. The 2018 budget allocates increased capital for continuing exploration and development activities offshore Guyana and for the Bakken, which includes growing the rig count from four rigs to six rigs. These increases are offset by lower capital allocated to the Gulf of Mexico and Malaysia compared to 2017.
The $2.1 billion budget is allocated as follows: $1,170 million (56 percent) for production, $555 million (26 percent) for offshore developments and $375 million (18 percent) for exploration and appraisal activities.
For production, it includes $900 million primarily to increase from four rigs to six rigs by the end of 2018, to drill approximately 120 new wells and to bring on line approximately 95 new wells in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota. Funds are also included for non-operated wells and pad construction in preparation for 2018-2019 drilling.
For more information, visit www. hess.com or call (212) 536-8250.