American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2015 - 100

SpecialReport: Offshore & Subsea Technology
Deep Gulf Energy and Ridgewood Energy
as just several of the "wonderful partners"
Red Willow has worked with in Mississippi
Canyon and Green Canyon projects.
Zahradnik says Red Willow has interests in more than 1,800 wells in many
of the major basins across the United
States, including the Gulf of Mexico. Investing in the Gulf is a good fit for the
Southern Ute Indian Tribe, he insists.
"The tribe is looking for long-term
investments," he details. "Corporations
think in terms of what they can do in the
next quarter. Native Americans think in
generational terms: What are they leaving
their children and grandchildren? The rewards in the Gulf are enormous. The
economics are still good, even at today's
prices."
Yeti Discovery
Another heretofore nonoperating partner in the Gulf is headed in the direction
of taking the reins.
Statoil has four main producing fields
in its Gulf of Mexico portfolio: Caesar
Tonga, which is operated by Anadarko
Petroleum; and St. Malo, Jack and Tahiti
operated by Chevron Corp. Statoil's production is 40,000 barrels of oil a day,
which the company hopes to increase to
more than 100,000 bbl/d by 2020, according to a spokesman Jim Schwartz,
who notes that would make Statoil the
fourth largest producer in the Gulf.
Statoil has ownership in five other
fields-Julia, Stampede, Vito, Heidelberg
and Big Foot-that either have been sanc-

tioned or expect to be soon, Schwartz
adds.
The Chevron-operated Big Foot Field
(Statoil has a 27.5 percent share) is expected to begin producing later this year,
Schwartz continues. Statoil also has working interests in the Royal Dutch Shelloperated Vito Field, the Hess Corporation-operated Stampede Field, the ExxonMobil-operated Julia Field, and the Heidelberg Field, all of which are expecting
startup over the next several years.
On the exploration side, Statoil made
some news with a discovery in Yeti in
the Gulf of Mexico, comments Jez Averty,
senior vice president of exploration for
North America. He says assessments are
under way to determine its commercial
potential. Yeti is a subsalt Miocene play
that Averty says could become the company's first operated GOM field.
"The Yeti discovery expands the
proven subsalt Miocene play farther south
and west of Big Foot," he points out.
"We are analyzing data to determine the
size of the discovery and to agree on appraisal options."
The Yeti discovery was made in Walker Ridge Block 160, which is located
nine miles south of the Big Foot Field
and seven miles from the Cascade Field.
Averty says all the blocks comprising
Yeti were accessed by their owners in
recent years. Statoil is the operator with
a 50 percent working interest. Its partners
are Anadarko (37.5 percent) and Samson
Oil and Gas (12.5 percent).
Averty says Yeti was drilled with the

Maersk Developer drilling rig, a sixthgeneration semisubmersible. He says Statoil's drilling efficiency with Yeti was
among the best of any well drilled in
Walker Ridge, achieving a penetration
rate of 400 feet a day. The rig now is
drilling Statoil's Thorvald prospect in
Mississippi Canyon Block 814.
"When we entered the Gulf 10 years
ago," Averty relates, "we did so because
it fit our core strengths: deepwater production and complex fields that with the
right investment in technology can become
long-lasting producers."
The downward pressure on industry
margins, which Averty contends started
long before the collapse in oil prices, and
then the fall in oil price are forcing a
change in focus toward lower-cost solutions
and lasting efficiency gains to improve
profitability and robustness. Averty says
Statoil's "heritage as an innovative problem
solver makes it well placed to do just that."
Stampede
Jeff Wirth, asset director for the Gulf
of Mexico at Hess Corporation, has 20
years of experience both on- and offshore.
"Before rejoining the Gulf with Hess in
2013, I spent four years in North Dakota
(in the Bakken Shale)," he reveals. "That
was a great opportunity, but the Gulf is
just as exciting. Hess is producing 80,000
barrels of oil equivalent a day net from
11 fields. It is an exciting portfolio and a
key area for us. We have been active in
the Gulf for 25 years."
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2015

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