Castex contracts Ensco rig for second Hummer well

Castex Energy has contracted the Ensco 68 jack-up drilling rig to drill the Main Pass Block 270 B-2 appraisal and development well located in the Gulf of Mexico offshore Louisiana. 

Petsec Energy, Castex’s partner in the project, said on Wednesday that the rig was expected to be on site late in the first week of August, with the well spud by mid-August 2018.

The date was pushed back to mid-August following a previous announcement that the well would be drilled in mid-July.

This is the second well to be drilled on the Hummer field, following the discovery success of the B-1 exploration well in late 2015 which was brought into production in late 2017 following the setting of a production platform and separate oil and gas sales pipelines.

The B-1 exploration well was a straight hole drilled to a true vertical depth (TVD) of 15,748 feet in the northwest corner of the Hummer field geologic structure in Main Pass Block 270. The well penetrated five oil and gas reservoirs, one of which was completed for production.

The Hummer field structure extends over a strike of five miles within the Main Pass Block 270, 273, 274 leases which cover 15,000 acres, in some 200 feet of water.

The B-2 appraisal and development well will be drilled from the Main Pass Block 270 B production platform to a bottom hole location approximately 6,000 feet to the east of the B-1 discovery well. This is the first of potentially three to eight appraisal/development wells required to develop the field.

The well is designed to test six oil and gas reservoirs, these being the five oil and gas reservoirs that were intersected in the B-1 well and a deeper horizon not tested by the well but productive in the area.

The primary objectives of the B-2 well are two sand reservoirs with proven oil and gas reserves discovered in the B-1 well, one of which is categorized as proved developed producing (PDP), the other Proved Undeveloped (PUD). These reservoirs are also productive in similar nearby fields – namely the Main Pass 280/283 Field Complex.

The B-2 well is planned to be drilled to a measured depth (MD) of 18,559 feet with a true vertical depth (TVD) of 16,624 feet.

It is expected to spud in mid-August 2018 and take approximately 80 days to reach total depth. Contingent on the results of the well, the production facility will be expanded and the well completed for production with production estimated to begin in mid-December 2018.

The estimated net cost to the company to drill the well is approximately $2.6 million, plus $1.0 – $1.2 million for completion and additional production facilities.