American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2016 - 68

SpecialReport: Gulf of Mexico Update

Stampede Is Setting Gulf Of Mexico Records
How deep is the reservoir at Stampede

erators, but as 100 percent owner of Pony,

The Pony No.1 drilled to 32,448 feet

Hess executed a joint operating agreement

TD in Green Canyon 468, encountered

Consider that the distance between

in 2012 with Nexen Petroleum and its part-

475 feet of oil-saturated sandstone. The

the seafloor and the pay intervals exceeds

ners on Knotty Head to merge the projects,

Pony No. 1 sidetrack was drilled 2,700

the vertical height of Mount Everest, with

with Hess appointed operator.

feet northeast of the discovery well, reach-

Field?

the wells extending roughly 5.5 miles

The front-end engineering and design

ing 30,634 feet TD and encountering 280

into the subsurface-including through

for the project started in 2013, and the

feet of pay. The Pony No. 2 appraisal, lo-

15,000 feet of salt. Given its extraordinary

final investment decision was made in

cated 1.5 miles northwest of the No. 1

depth, Stampede is set to establish multiple

October 2014. Partners are Hess, Nexen,

well, was drilled to 32,900 feet TD. It

Gulf of Mexico depth records when it

Unocal (Chevron) and Statoil, each holding

was followed by the No. 2 sidetrack

commences production in 2018, including

a 25 percent working interest.

7,400 feet northwest of the discovery

for the gas lift system to raise the produced

With a total depth of 34,189 feet, the

oil to surface and the water injection sys-

Knotty Head No. 1 discovery well in

tem to maintain reservoir pressures.

well, which was drilled to 33,362 feet
TD.

Green Canyon Block 512 was the deepest

Diamond Offshore Drilling's Ocean

The $6 billion project combines the

well drilled at that time in the Gulf. It

BlackLion new-build drill ship began op-

Pony and Knotty Head discoveries into a

encountered approximately 600 feet of

erations at Stampede late last year under

single development. Knotty Head and Pony

net oil pay. A sidetrack was drilled 4,500

a four-year contract with Hess, and the

were discovered in 2005 and 2006, respec-

feet to the south of the discovery well,

contractor's Ocean BlackRhino is sched-

tively. The two fields were conceived as

reaching 32,986 feet TD and encountering

uled to enter service later this year at the

stand-alone projects by their respective op-

400 feet of net oil pay.

field under a three-year contract.
The 10-well field development involves
six subsea production wells and four
water injection wells from two subsea
drill centers. The wells will be tied back
to the Stampede TLP with a designed
topside weight of 11,500 tons. Modec
International is providing the engineering,
procurement, construction management,
and commissioning services for the TLP.
The hull is being constructed in South
Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries.
Wood Group Mustang is performing the
topsides engineering. The topsides are
being built at Kiewit Offshore Services'
yard in Ingleside, Tx.
Other key contractors on the project
include Intecsea, Proserv, Oceaneering,
2H Offshore, Subsea 7, and Vallourec.
Enbridge is constructing and will operate
an 18-inch, 16-mile pipeline lateral that
originates at Green Canyon Block 468 to
transport Stampede crude oil to a thirdparty system.
r

ff4

6 mi

900-1,000 ft

Margin
Off-axial

Axial

Margin
Off-axial

Weakly conﬁned system
The dual-coil 3-D seismic section on top and its flattened version on bottom show the
complex depositional environment of the Stampede Field's main reservoir, the middle
Miocene Gff40s. The fault-segmented, four-way structural closure was formed in response
to salt withdrawal from the basin, with the evacuated salt creating a 2.5 mile-thick canopy
over the structure.

68 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2016

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