Southeastern Scout

W&T Offshore struck oil with its only well drilled during Q1, located at East Cameron 338/349 field in the shallow-water Gulf of Mexico. The Cota well was drilled to 6,000 ft in 290 ft of water and encountered 100 ft of net oil pay. W&T anticipates the well will be brought online in 1H21. The company currently holds 20% in the well, with that stake increasing to 38.4% when the well is turned to sales and performance thresholds are met. This was the only well W&T drilled in Q1. All D&C activity...

Privately held LLOG Exploration sanctioned its Taggart discovery on Mississippi Canyon block 816. The development will consist of two wells that will be tied back to the Williams-operated Devils Tower spar in nearby Mississippi Canyon block 773, with first production expected in 2022. An agreement has been signed with Williams to provide production handling. Williams will utilize its Mountaineer and Canyon Chief pipeline systems, delivering volumes to its Mobile Bay processing plant. NGLs...

In Grand Isle block 45, Contango Oil & Gas’ Iron Flea exploration well was unsuccessful. The prospect, drilled in 12,500 ft of water at an estimated dry hole cost of over $7 million, had targeted 21 MMboe in reserve potential. Contango drilled the well in a joint development agreement with Juneau Oil & Gas. Contango would have acquired 85-90% in the well in the case of a...

On June 28, Chesapeake Energy filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy code. Concurrently, the company entered into a restructuring support agreement with 100% of the lenders under its revolving credit facility, holders of about 87% of the obligations under its term loan agreement, 60% of its senior secured second-lien notes due 2025, and 27% of its senior unsecured notes, pursuant to which Chesapeake will implement a plan to eliminate about $7 billion of...

Kosmos Energy entered a crude oil prepayment agreement with Trafigura Trading LLC. The agreement provides up to $200 million of crude oil sales primarily related to a portion of the company's 2022 and 2023 Gulf of Mexico production, with $150 million committed by Trafigura. Kosmos expected to execute $50 million of advance crude oil sales in June. Later this year, following the completion of the prepayment agreement conditions, an additional $100-150 million of advance crude oil sales is...

Following a $640 million acquisition completed in February, Talos Energy announced a $65 million cashand-stock deal to acquire additional stakes in 16 of its new properties, including operatorship of 11. The definitive agreement was signed with an affiliate of Riverstone portfolio company Castex Energy, one of three sellers in the previous deal. The new assets from Castex Energy 2005, all located on the GOM shelf, have estimated proved reserves of 17.6 MMboe (66% PD) and production of 38.4...

Murphy Oil brought online the first well in its Front Runner program on the Green Canyon block 338 in the Gulf of Mexico during Q1. The A4 well encountered more than 250 ft of net pay and has outperformed expectations by nearly 2x with a gross peak rate of 7,000 boe/d. The company is evaluating a near-field subsea exploitation opportunity as a result. Front Runner was launched as a three-well program in November but was recently revised to two wells, with the third to be drilled at a later...

The number of rigs drilling for hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico has averaged 33 during Q2 thus far, showing a nine-rig, or 21%, drop compared to the Q1 average, according to Enverus Rig Analytics. If the situation holds constant through the remainder of the quarter, this would be the lowest level of GOM rig activity in Enverus’ data, which goes back to 2Q14. After bottoming at a quarterly average of 34 in 4Q16 after the last oil bust, the count has stayed in a tight range around 40. This...

Tropical Storm Cristobal formed in the Gulf of Mexico on June 1 and made landfall in Louisiana on June 7. As of June 9, 31% of crude production and 33% of natural gas production were shut in, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. By June 10, 24% of oil volumes, or 436,000 bo/d, and 23% of natural gas volumes, or 619 MMcf/d, were still shut...

Byron Energy Ltd. commenced loading of the South Marsh Island 58 G platform and jacket in early June. The platform will be installed over a three-week period, and oil and gas pipeline installation will begin in early July. In mid- to late July, a rig will arrive on the block to drill the G1 well. Byron operates the project with 100%...