Cairn comes up dry in first operated well offshore Mexico

Oil and gas company Cairn Energy has completed the first well in its drilling program offshore Mexico, but failed to prove hydrocarbons. Cairn expects to start drilling its second well off Mexico in November.

In an update on Monday, Cairn said that the exploration target of the Alom-1 well on Block 9 was to prove hydrocarbons in stacked Pleistocene targets. The objectives were found to be dry and the well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned, the company reported.

Data has been collected and preliminary analysis indicates that the well encountered over 500 metres (m) of high-quality water bearing sands across multiple targets. This information will help Cairn calibrate the seismic data and geological models and is being integrated to improve Cairn’s understanding of the petroleum system offshore Mexico.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,056m below the sea surface and was terminated in the Pleistocene section. It was drilled about 120 kilometres northwest of Villahermosa.

Alom-1 is Cairn’s first operated exploration well in Mexico, the license was awarded in Round 2.1 in 2017. Cairn holds a 50% working interest (WI) with JV partners Citla Energy (35% WI) and Eni (15% WI).

Alom-1 was drilled by the Maersk Developer semi-submersible rig, which will now move to drill Cairn’s second operated well on Block 9, Bitol-1, which is expected to start operations in November 2019.

Non-operated drilling activity is running in parallel on Blocks 7 and 10; the first Eni-operated well, Saasken-1, has started operations on Block 10.

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