Date 11 July 2000
Number 71/00
BHP ANNOUNCES ENCOURAGING
GULF OF MEXICO DRILLING RESULT
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd (BHP) today announced initial results
from its appraisal well on the Atlantis discovery in the Atwater Foldbelt
ultra deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico. The well has encountered a
significant oil zone in Miocene sands with net pay in excess of 300 feet.
Drilling will continue through additional prospective zones. The well is
expected to reach its planned total depth of 18 600 feet within the next
several weeks.
The participants in the well are BHP 44 per cent and BP Amoco 56 per cent.
These initial appraisal results confirm that Atlantis is an important
discovery and one of three BHP / BP Amoco discoveries in the Atwater
Foldbelt. Neptune was discovered in 1995 (BHP 42.5%) and lies 16 miles
(25 kilometres) to the northeast of Atlantis, while the Mad Dog discovery
lies a similar distance to the southwest. The appraisal well Mad Dog -2,
drilled earlier this year, encountered an oil column of 265 net feet.
Overall reserves for the area will be determined following further evaluation
but expectations are that resource levels of multi-hundred million barrels
are present.
President BHP Petroleum Philip Aiken said: "This is an exciting and highly
encouraging result, particularly as it follows successful drilling in Mad Dog
earlier this year. The results to date indicate that BHP and its partners
have an involvement in a potentially major new hydrocarbon province in the
deepwater, Gulf of Mexico. The results of this well and future planned
drilling will enable further delineation of reserve potential."
The Atlantis-2 well, which is being drilled by the BHP-operated C.R. Luigs
dynamically -positioned drilling vessel, is located in Green Canyon Block
743 in the Atwater Foldbelt ultra deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico in
a water depth of 6675 feet. The Atlantis-1 discovery well was drilled in
1998 in Green Canyon Block 699 (3 miles to the northeast of the current well)
where it also encountered oil-bearing Miocene sands.
The results of this first appraisal well are being evaluated and, while
encouraging, it is likely that further appraisal will be required to
delineate this accumulation.
Further evaluation of the Atwater Foldbelt is planned for later this
calendar year when the BHP operated CR Luigs will drill an exploration well
on the Chinook prospect. BHP and partners will also undertake a further
appraisal well on the Mad Dog discovery, where BHP has now satisfactorily
concluded an equity re-determination with its partners, resulting in the
Company achieving an overall 23.9 per cent share of the Mad Dog project
reserves.
BHP has interests in 128 Blocks in the Atwater Foldbelt trend - making it an
important component of BHP's focussed deepwater exploration strategy.
* * * * *
Further information and other BHP News Releases can be found on our internet
site at:
http://www.bhp.com.au/press/news.htm
The website also contains an electronic photo image of the BHP-operated C.R.
Luigs dynamically -positioned drilling vessel. The vessel is drilling the
Atlantis-2 well located in Green Canyon Block 743 in the Atwater Foldbelt
ultra deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico in a water depth of 6675 feet.
Melbourne
MEDIA RELATIONS INVESTOR RELATIONS
Dr Malcolm Garratt Dr Robert Porter
Group Manager External Affairs Vice President Investor Relations
Phone: + 61 3 9652 6872 Phone: + 61 3 9609 3540
Mobile: + 61 419 582 255
Mandy Frostick Candy Ramsey
Manager Media Relations BHP Investor Relations Houston
Tel: 61 3 9609 4157 Tel: (713) 961-8640
Mob: 61 3 419 546 245 EMail: [email protected]
