Located approximately 25km off the Tabasco coast in a water depth of around 50m and within a zone of several Miocene discoveries, the Kan prospect is the first of two commitment wells of Block 30
Wintershall Dea and its partners discovers oil offshore Mexico. (Wintershall Dea/Frank Meyer)
Wintershall Dea and its partners Harbour Energy and Sapura OMV have made an oil discovery in the Sureste Basin, offshore Mexico.
The discovery was made on Wintershall Dea’s Kan exploration prospect in Block 30, located in the shallow waters of the Cuenca Salina.
According to the preliminary estimates, the discovery could hold 200–300 million barrels of oil equivalent in place.
Block 30 is operated by Wintershall Dea with a 40% stake while Harbour Energy and Sapura OMV own a stake of 30% each.
Located approximately 25km off the Tabasco coast in a water depth of around 50m and within a zone of several Miocene discoveries, the Kan prospect is the first of two commitment wells of Block 30.
Following drilling to a total depth of 3,317m using the Borr Ran rig, the Kan well identified over 170m net pay sands of Upper Miocene with good petrophysical properties and high-quality oil, said Wintershall Dea.
Besides, an up-dip sidetrack down to 3,087m was conducted and recovered about further 250m cores across the main reservoir sands.
Wintershall Dea chief technology officer and executive board member responsible for global exploration Hugo Dijkgraaf said: “This important discovery at Wintershall Dea’s first own-operated exploration well offshore Mexico is a great success.”
“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.”
The Block 30 consortium will examine the extensive subsurface data collection to prepare the Kan discovery appraisal plan.
The plan is expected to be submitted to Mexico’s Hydrocarbon Agency CNH (Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos) before the end of July 2023.
The Borr Ran rig has been relocated to a second prospect to be drilled at Block 30, namely Ix, located about 20km northeast of the Kan discovery after the completion of the Kan-1EXP well and the sidetrack.