W&T Offshore Strikes Black Gold at Mahogany Field

Low oil prices prompted W&T Offshore Inc. to halt in early 2015 its Mahogany field development drilling program in the Gulf of Mexico. Its decision to resume drilling has paid off for the company.

W&T Offshore reported Jan. 5 it had logged 149 feet of net oil pay in five zones and extended the size and depth of the Mahogany field with the Ship Shoal 359 A-18 well. The well, drilled to a vertical depth of 20,000 feet in 372 feet of water, confirmed that the ‘T’ sand is present and oil bearing on the field’s west side, and penetrated four additional pay sands in addition to the main ‘T’ sand target. After casing the ‘T’ sand, W&T Offshore drilled an exploratory tail approximately 950 feet deeper beneath the main well target to test seismic reflectors imaged with the company’s newest seismic data, and discovered an additional pay interval in a deeper ‘U’ sand interval.

W&T Offshore, which holds 100 percent interest in the field, expects the A-18 well results to generate additional drilling locations for the company, the company said in a Jan. 5 press statement.

W&T Offshore Chairman and CEO Tracy Krohn said the Mahogany drilling program was benefitting from recent analysis of W&T Offshore’s new WAZ [wide-azimuth] seismic data over the field, which is allowing the company to more clearly image the sub-salt formations and assess the additional upside of this field.

“With a number of development and low-risk exploration locations yet to be drilled, the Mahogany field is expected to be the cornerstone of our capital program in 2017 and possibly beyond,” Krohn said in the release. “Our focus on lowering drilling and operating costs in the Gulf of Mexico, combined with Mahogany’s outstanding reservoir characteristics and existing infrastructure on the Shelf, delivers very compelling economic returns for our shareholders.”

The Ship Shoal 359 A-18 well was drilled with Helmerich and Payne platform rig H&P 107, company spokesperson Lisa Elliott told Rigzone in an email statement. The rig has been on location at Mahogany since 2011. Elliott said the company would not yet disclose how the results would impact reserve estimates for Mahogany.



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