Operator Wintershall Dea and its partners Harbour Energy and Sapura OMV have made a significant oil discovery on the Kan exploration prospect in Block 30, located in shallow waters of the Cuenca Salina in the Sureste Basin, offshore Mexico. Based on preliminary estimates the discovery may contain 200 to 300 million barrels oil equivalent in place.
“This important discovery at Wintershall Dea’s first own-operated exploration well offshore Mexico is a great success”, says Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea’s chief technology officer and Executive Board member responsible for global exploration. “It was one of the most contested blocks of Mexico’s bid round 3.1 back in 2018. The successful Kan discovery confirms the attractiveness of Block 30, complementing Wintershall Dea’s outstanding Mexican license portfolio. It is a significant step to extending our footprint in Mexico contributing to the development of a potential new hub in the shallow waters of the Sureste Basin”, Dijkgraaf underlines.
Kan is the first of two commitment wells of Block 30. The Kan prospect is located about 25 kilometers off the Tabasco coast in water depth of around 50 meters, and within a zone of several Miocene discoveries including the world class Zama discovery and the Polok and Chinwol discoveries, where Wintershall Dea holds significant working interests. The Kan well, drilled by the Borr Ran rig, reached a total depth of 3,317 meters and found more than 170 meters net pay sands of Upper Miocene with good petrophysical properties and high-quality oil. An updip sidetrack down to 3,087 meters was carried out, and additionally approximately 250 meters cores across the main reservoir sands were recovered.
Martin Jungbluth, managing director of Wintershall Dea in Mexico, points out: “After the recent submission of the Unit Development Plan for the Zama field and the acquisition of a material share in the producing Hokchi field, the discovery in Block 30 is the next important milestone for Wintershall Dea in Mexico. From our strong market position, with our value accretive projects in the exploration and development phase as well as our current production projects, we look forward to contributing to the further development of the Mexican energy sector.”
The Block 30 consortium will evaluate the extensive subsurface data collection in order to prepare the Kan discovery appraisal plan, to be submitted to Mexico’s Hydrocarbon Agency CNH (Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos) before end of July 2023.
After the Kan-1EXP well and the sidetrack were completed, the Borr Ran rig was moved to a second prospect to be drilled at Wintershall Dea’s Block 30, namely Ix, located approximately 20 kilometers northeast of the Kan discovery.
Operator Wintershall Dea holds 40 percent in Block 30, with Harbour Energy and Sapura OMV holding each 30 percent.
Wintershall Dea set foot in Mexico in 2017. The company has started exploring for and producing hydrocarbons in Mexico in 2018. Since then, the company has managed to establish itself as one of the leading international upstream companies in Mexico, with interests in licences in all phases of the E&P value chain.
With a 50 percent share, Wintershall Dea has been operator of the producing onshore Ogarrio oil field since 2018. The Mexican state company Pemex is a partner and holds the remaining shares. Furthermore, Wintershall Dea holds 37 percent in the producing offshore Block Hokchi, which currently produces around 27,000 barrel oil equivalent per day. Wintershall Dea is the second largest shareholder in the world-class Zama discovery, after Pemex. In addition, Wintershall Dea has material interests in ten offshore exploration blocks located in the Gulf of Mexico, three of them as operator.
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