Shell made a “major discovery” at its Kaikias well that could possibly surpass 100 MMboe, in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
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Map of the Mars-Ursa basin. From Shell. |
Kaikias is located about 60mi south of Louisiana, in the Mars-Ursa basin at 4575ft (1395m) water depth, and is in close proximity to existing Shell infrastructure.
“The development potential of Kaikias could exceed 100 MMboe recoverable,” Shell said in a statement.
The UK supermajor is continuing with the full evaluation of the well.
Shell owns and operates three infrastructure hosts in the Mars-Ursa basin. Since Kaikias is located in the basin, which Shell characterizes as having high quality oil in world-class quality reservoirs, the company expects to reduce overall development costs.
Shell discovered Kaikias in August 2014, and appraisal drilling revealed more than 300ft of net oil pay in August 2015. Both the drilling and appraisal of the well was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, saving the company more than 20%.
“This achievement was reached despite the company drilling the longest well ever drilled by Shell at 34,500ft measured depth,” Shell said.
Shell owns and operates 100% of Kaikias.
