Kosmos Energy (NYSE: KOS) (LSE: KOS) announced on Tuesday an oil discovery at Gladden Deep in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) where the company has a 20% working interest. Gladden Deep is a sub-sea tie back which is expected to be brought online through the existing Gladden pipeline to the Medusa spar in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Kosmos said based on preliminary analysis of drilling and wireline logging results the recoverable resource is expected to be in line with the pre-drill estimate of 7 mmboe gross.
Gladden Deep is the first well of a four well infrastructure-led exploration (ILX) program in GOM in 2019. Kosmos will drill the Moneypenny prospect in the third quarter, followed by the Oldfield and Resolution prospects in the fourth quarter. These three prospects are collectively targeting around 100 mmboe net to Kosmos.
Commenting on the discovery, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andy Inglis said, “Although Gladden Deep is the smallest prospect in this years drilling campaign, it is a prime example of our ILX strategy in action targeting high margin, high return barrels that can be quickly brought online through existing facilities.”
Inglis said the development of Gladden Deep has a full cycle rate of return of over 100% at $60/bbl Brent. This discovery, he said, continues the strong momentum the company has seen in its GOM business unit, following the recent lease sale results and increased production from the Tornado-3 well coming online.
