Following up on last year’s deepwater diligence post, 4 recent deepwater exploratory wells (table below) were spudded within 4.5 years of the effective date of their leases.
Particularly noteworthy is Anadarko’s well on newly acquired Mississippi Canyon Block 40, which was spudded only 18 months after the lease was acquired. Everything has to be in place for such an outcome: corporate priority, data gathering and analysis, well plan, permitting, and rig contract/availability.
The well was apparently a high priority not just for Anadarko, but also for Chevron and Murphy. MC 40 was acquired by Chevron (bidding alone) at Sale 257 for $4,409,990, the third highest bid at the sale. Murphy had submitted a losing bid of $3 million, but was assigned a 33% share of the lease by Chevron on 12/15/2023. One month earlier, Anadarko had been assigned a 33% interest and became lease operator.
Interestingly, BOEM’s Mean Range of Value (MROV) estimate for the block was only $576,000, so the three companies are seeing something that BOEM doesn’t. We’ll see how this plays out.
According to rig tracker data the Ocean Blackhawk is still on location at MC 40. Per BSEE permitting data, the well was approved to be bypassed in mid-May.
| Lease No. | Block | Operator | Water Depth (feet) | lease date spud date | elapsed time (months) | EP received EP approved |
| G37199 | MC 40 | Anadarko | 4704 | 10/1/2022 4/9/2024 | 18 | 10/20/20233/7/2024 |
| G36924 | AT 453 | Chevron | 5698 | 7/1/2020 1/23/2024 | 42 | 9/25/2023 11/21/2023 |
| G36676 | AT 138 | Murphy | 3444 | 7/1/2019 11/14/2023 | 52 | 10/3/2023 11/7/2023 |
| G36558 | MC 801 | Shell | 3303 | 1/27/2024 7/1/2019 | 54 | 8/6/2021 1/19/2023 |
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 