Page 52: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Mar/Apr 2017)

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*

COL 6 COL 7

COLOMBIA

Gross Acres: ~15MM

Latin AmericaLatin America 3D Phase II 2 13,000 km (2016)

GRAND COL

SOUTH (100% WI)

AMERICA 3D Phase I 2 16,300 km

COL 1 (2015)

REGIONAL OVERVIEW 50 MILES

COL 2 80 KM

GRAND COL

GRAND FUERTE (50% WI)

Fanning the

GRAND

COL 5

FUERTE

FUERTE

NORTE

PURPLE

COLOMBIA

ANGEL ? ames (E&P)

APC WI Block

APC Discovery

Gorgon-1

Planned Drilling

FUERTE

SUR

All eyes may be on Guyana, but there’s plenty

Gas Field

Purple Angel-1

Gorgon Prospect of other countries worthy of attention in

Prospects/Leads

Kronos South America. Audrey Leon surveys the current

Drilling Rig 50% WI 50 MILES spike in exploration activity in the region.

80 KM *Grand Fuerte and Grand Col maps shown at diŠerent scales hile the downturn in oil prices has cooled many Petroleum is drilling offshore Colombia. In February, during Col 7), where the Esmeralda survey was conducted.

companies offshore exploration aspirations, more its Q4 earnings call, the Houston-based oil company con- In early January, Spain’s Repsol contracted Maersk

W than a few majors and small ? rms are taking the ? rmed that the Purple Angel exploration well spudded in Drilling’s Maersk Developer semisubmersible drilling rig to plunge in South America. December and, as OE went to press, operations were ongoing, drill the Siluro-1 exploration well in block RC-11, offshore

After ExxonMobil’s massive 2015 Liza ? nd offshore Guyana, using Fred. Olsen’s Bolette Dolphin drillship. western Colombia. Drilling is planned for Q2 2017 and will there are many who are interested in that upcoming oil- “We are testing effectively the Kronos discovery in this take about 42 days. The estimated contract value is US$12 bearing country, as well as others, including neighboring Purple Angel location right now,” said Ernest A. Leyendecker, million, including mobilization and demobilization, Maersk

Suriname. South of Brazil, there is Uruguay, where Total executive vice president of International and Deepwater Drilling says. drilled the then-world’s deepest water well, Raya, in 2016. Exploration, during the call. “When we’re done, we’re going According to a 2014 presentation by Repsol, Siluro is a

Traditional oil-bearing countries such as Colombia are also to go up north and test another analogous structure to the lower Micocene Carbonate prospect, with 1.6 Tcf gas resourc- seeing renewed exploration investment from both internation- feature we’re on right now, called Gorgon. So, really a lot more es, in 90m water depth. al and national oil ? rms. to come in the context of the Grand Fuerte area gas frontier in

Guyana the future.”

Arguably, all eyes will be on Guyana in 2017, as US superma-

Colombia Anadarko also said that it is evaluating multiple large-

Colombia is South America’s third largest oil producer after jor ExxonMobil aims to fast-track its recent major ? nds in the scale opportunities identi? ed from the Esmeralda 3D seis-

Venezuela and Brazil, according to the US Energy Information country. According to Exxon’s Q4 earnings call late January, mic survey, which covers about 30,000sq km and potential

Administration. At the end of 2016, the ? rm expects ? nal investment decision on Liza by year’s drilling locations for possible the country’s state-owned oil com- end, with start-up possible by 2020.

operations in 2018 are being pany Ecopetrol announced that it In mid-2015, ExxonMobil con? rmed the huge Liza discov- evaluated.

intended to ramp up exploration “We’re obviously pretty encour- ery, in the Stabroek block, 120mi offshore Guyana. Ever since, in 2017, both off- and onshore, aged about what we’re seeing,” the supermajor and its partners have been evaluating and in- to curb its falling production. In Leyendecker added, who described creasing potential recoverable resource estimates at the block,

November, Ecopetrol’s Exploration the acreage as “pretty deepwater which are thought to hover well over 1 billion boe.

Vice President Max Torres noted out there in the Grand Col area.” The Stabroek block comprises 6.6 million acres (26,800sq that of the 15 exploration wells the Anadarko has a 50-50 partner- km). Exxon subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production

Colombian operator planned to ship with Ecopetrol on Purple Guyana operates the block with 45% interest. Its partners in- drill in 2017, ? ve would be offshore Angel. Anadarko holds 100% clude Hess (30%) and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana (25%).

(OE: January 2017). working interest in the Gran Col In January 2017, ExxonMobil then made the ultra-deepwater

The drillship o