Noble Energy, Inc. provides an update on its exploration activities in West Africa and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Offshore Equatorial Guinea, the Company is drilling its Diega prospect and results to-date confirm the discovery of multiple hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. Initial formation logs have identified 38 feet of net gas- condensate pay in the primary zone which correlates to earlier discoveries in the region. A deeper previously untested feature was also discovered and found to contain 30 feet of net gas-condensate pay underlain by 37 feet of net oil pay. Preliminary analysis suggests that liquid yields from the gas zones are expected to be greater than at the Belinda gas-condensate discovery on Block "O." Once drilling operations are concluded, a testing program will commence. Diega, the second oil discovery by Noble Energy and its partners on Block "I," represents the sixth successful well drilled on the block with no dry holes. Noble Energy is the technical operator on the block with a 40 percent participating interest.
In the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, the Company and its partners identified a high-quality reservoir at the Tortuga prospect within Mississippi Canyon Blocks 561 and 605. The well, drilled to a total depth of 19,885 feet, encountered natural gas in a secondary objective. The primary objective was determined to be wet. The well has been temporarily abandoned pending future development plans. Noble Energy operates the discovery with a 50 percent working interest.
The Company also announced that its Stones River exploration well, located in Mississippi Canyon Block 285 and drilled to a total depth of 9,800 feet, was unsuccessful. Noble Energy operated the prospect with a 100 percent working interest. The Diamond 'Ocean Quest' rig has subsequently moved to drill an appraisal well at Raton South, where the Company has a 62 percent operated working interest in the discovery on Mississippi Canyon 292.
In addition, Noble Energy is participating in the current drilling of the Gunflint/Freedom prospect at Mississippi Canyon Block 948. The well is expected to reach its proposed depth of 31,000 feet later in the third quarter. The Company has a 37.5 percent working interest in the prospect.
Based on these results and combined with other exploration activity in the second quarter, Noble Energy anticipates it exploration expense for the second quarter to be between $100 and $110 million. With the increased activity level, the Company now expects full-year exploration expense to be at the upper end of its initial guidance of $240 to $310 million.