Eni on Monday announced a discovery at the Saasken Exploration Prospect offshore Mexico. The company said preliminary estimates indicate that the discovery may contain between 200 and 300 million barrels of oil.
The Saasken Exploration Prospect is located in Block 10, in the mid-deep water of the Cuenca Salina in the Sureste Basin, Offshore Mexico. It is said to be the sixth consecutive successful well drilled in the basin, 65 kilometres off the coast and was drilled by the Valaris 8505 semi-submersible in water depth of 340 metres and reaching a total depth of 3,830 metres.
“Saasken-1 discovered 80 meters of net pay of good quality oil in the Lower Pliocene and Upper Miocene sequences. The reservoirs show excellent petrophysical properties. An intensive data collection has been carried out on the well and the data acquired indicate a production capacity for the well of more than 10,000 barrels of oil per day,” the Eni release noted.
The company said that the discovery is opening a potential commercial outcome of Block 10 since several other prospects located nearby may be clustered in a synergic development.
With a 65 percent stake, Eni is operator of the Block 10 Joint Venture with Lukoil (20 percent) and Capricorn (15 percent). The partners will work to appraise the discovery and to exploit nearby synergies “in order to start the studies for a commercial development.”
Eni said that Mexico is a core country in its strategy of future organic growth. “The company is currently producing approximately 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) from Area 1 and expects to reach a plateau of 100,000 boed in the first half of 2021. Eni is also planning an important exploration campaign in the other licenses held in Mexico,” the release said.
Eni has been present in Mexico since 2006 and currently holds rights in eight exploration and production blocks (six as the Operator), all located in the Sureste Basin in the Gulf of Mexico.
