American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017 - 36

SpecialReport: Gulf of Mexico Update
The acquisition provides Anadarko a
number of other benefits, Brown considers,
as it has doubled the company's ownership
in the Lucius development to 49 percent.
It also has doubled Anadarko's Gulf of
Mexico production to more than 160,000
net barrels of oil equivalent a day. Because
the acquired production is 85 percent
oil, Brown indicates, it should provide
the company with a higher margin on its
development.
Finally, the acquisition adds three operated deepwater facilities, bringing
Anadarko's total to 10 operated floating
production facilities spread across the
Gulf. That infrastructure gives Anadarko
a "very low cost of development and
makes tiebacks attractive," he maintains.
"Green field developments are much
more challenging without existing infrastructure," Brown adds.
An Exciting Time
According to Anadarko, acquiring upward of 80 blocks from Freeport-McMoRan has expanded Anadarko's Gulf

of Mexico portfolio of working interest
blocks to more than 350, making it the
Gulf's top operator. Anadarko also has
announced successes at the Warrior and
Phobos discoveries, which add to its inventory of future tieback opportunities,
and it reports a successful development
well in the Heidelberg Field.
According to Brown, the Warrior exploration well, which was drilled in 4,400
feet of water about three miles from the
Anadarko-operated K2 Field, encountered
more than 210 feet of oil pay in multiple
high-quality Miocene-aged reservoirs.
Anadarko is the operator at Warrior with
a 65 percent working interest.
"It is a likely tie back to our Marco
Polo production facility," he notes. "We
have a number of these opportunities.
Eight of our 10 operated production facilities have room to put more wells on
line, and there is also the potential to expand them. That cuts the cost and time
of new development."
Brown contends the production facilities also give Anadarko the opportunity

to gain additional equity in other prospects
as well as the opportunity to leverage
into a production solution for other companies, which would keep its facilities
full and operating at a lower cost. "It is a
win-win opportunity for both Anadarko
and other companies operating in the region," he considers.
As an example, the company cites its
Lucius facility, which was able to process
Exxon-Mobil's production from its Hadrian Field, highlighting the flexibility the
production facilities afford.
At the Phobos appraisal well, located
12 miles south of the Lucius facility,
Brown says Anadarko already has encountered more than 90 net feet of highquality oil pay in Pliocene-aged reservoirs
similar to the Lucius Field. He explains
this secondary accumulation was present
in the Phobos discovery well, and
Anadarko will evaluate it for tieback to
the Lucius facility. Meanwhile, Brown
indicates, drilling toward the primary objective in the Wilcox formation continues.
Anadarko has a 100 percent working interest at Phobos.
At the Heidelberg Field, a fifth production well has encountered reservoir
sand with more than 150 net feet of oil
pay. "It will tie back to our Heidelberg
facility, and we expect new production
from that fifth well early this year,"
Brown offers. "We have other opportunities, too. That is not unique to Heidelberg, either. This is an exciting time for
our Gulf of Mexico team."
Successful Strategy
For 25 years, the founders of Byron
Energy Ltd., a small Australian inde-

By acquiring more than 80 deepwater blocks from Freeport-McMoRan, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has doubled its Gulf of Mexico production to 160,000 net barrels of oil equivalent a day. The acquisition's three operated deepwater facilities also give Anadarko a
total of 10 operated floating production facilities in the Gulf.

36 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

pendent, have found success by going
into the Gulf of Mexico's old producing
areas, describes Chief Executive Officer
Maynard Smith. "The model has worked

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017

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