Winterfell Development, Gulf of Mexico

The project is located in the Green Canyon blocks 943, 944, 987, and 988 in the US Gulf of Mexico. The water depth of the location of the project is approximately 5,200 feet.

Exploration Details

The exploration of the Winterfell Project commenced with the drilling of Winterfell-1 at the Winterfell Infrastructure Led Exploration (ILX) Well. Kosmos Energy (17.5%) is the operator of the well.

The Winterfell-1 was drilled by Kosmos Energy in 2021 and encountered approximately 26m (86 feet) of net oil pay in two intervals.

Located in approximately 1,600m (5,300 feet) of water, the well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 7,000m (23,000 feet) to test a sub-salt Upper Miocene prospect in Block 944 of Green Canyon.

Kosmos planned to drill the Zora ILX Well in the US Gulf of Mexico in 2021.

An appraisal well Winterfell-2 was successfully drilled by Kosmos Energy on Block 943 of the Green Canyon. The drilling of the well was completed in January 2022.

Operated by Kosmos Energy (around 16.4% interest), the well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 8,700m (around 28,500 feet).

The well was drilled to test two oil-bearing horizons in Winterfell-1 consisting of an exploration tail into the horizon and evaluate the adjacent fault block located northwest of Winterfell-1.

The appraisal well encountered approximately 40m (around 120 feet) of net oil pay with better oil saturation and porosity in both horizons. An Additional oil-bearing horizon was discovered in the deeper reservoir.

The results of the well showed the resource potential in the central Winterfell area containing around gross 100 million barrels of oil.

Winterfell Project Details

The Winterfell Project will be developed as a subsea tie-back with low emissions and cost-effective solutions.

The development of the project will consist of the installation of a new subsea infrastructure of 13 miles (20921.5m) length which will be tied back to the Heidelberg spar.

The Heidelberg spar is situated in Block 860 of the Green Canyon. The block is operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

The project is a Miocene-aged project which was discovered initially in 2021. The discovery of the project was followed by successful appraisal drilling campaigns conducted in 2022.

The Final Investment Decision of the project was taken by the operator and partners in January 2024. The companies expect that the project will produce the first oil early in the second quarter of 2024.

From the first three wells, the project is projected to produce a gross production of approximately 22,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of oil and natural gas.

The project will unlock the sub-salt field’s potential by using horizontal drilling technology for open hole completions and accessing the nearby Heidelberg spar and other related downstream facilities with available ullage.

Contractor Information

In July 2023, Beacon Offshore Energy Exploration & Production awarded a contract to Perma-Pipe International Holdings for the development of the Winterfell Project.

The contract was awarded with a value of more than $9m. The scope of the contract includes the delivery of FLOW THERM subsea wet insulation to the flowline.

FLOW THERM is a cost-effective and highly efficient subsea insulation having compressive resistance. FLOW THERM has been used on projects with water depths of up to 3,000m (10,000 feet).

The contract was executed by Perma-Pipe from the latter part of 2023 at its facility in the Port of Iberia, Louisiana and successfully completed before the end of 2023.