U.S. player’s new oil discovery in Gulf of Mexico comes to light

U.S.-headquartered oil and gas exploration and production company Kosmos Energy has made a new oil discovery in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The oil discovery was made at the Tiberius exploration well, where Kosmos is the operator with a 33.34% working interest while its partners are Occidental and Equinor, each holding a 33.33% stake. According to the operator, the Tiberius exploration well tested a four-way structural trap in the outboard Wilcox trend located in Keathley Canyon Block 964.

Furthermore, the well encountered approximately 250 feet (about 75 meters) of net oil pay in the primary Wilcox target. While wireline logging has been completed, the casing is currently being run to the target depth to enable the well to be used as a future oil producer. The Tiberius well is located in approximately 7,500 feet (2,300 meters) of water and was drilled to a total vertical depth of approximately 25,800 feet (7,800 meters).

Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos Energy’s Chairman and CEO, commented: “Exploration success at Tiberius validates our proven basin infrastructure-led exploration strategy, which is focused on low-cost, short-cycle development opportunities. The Gulf of Mexico is an advantaged basin with top quartile carbon emissions, and discoveries like Tiberius can bring lower carbon U.S. supply to meet near-term growing oil demand.”

Kosmos intends to undertake rock and fluid analysis to confirm the production potential of the reservoir and will work with partners on subsea development options. As the discovery is located approximately 6 miles southeast of the Occidental-operated Lucius SPAR production facility, this enables a short tie-back in the event of development.