Shell Offshore said oil and gas production has begun from thefirst sub-salt well in the Enchilada field, which includes GardenBanks Blocks 83, 84, 127, 128 and 172 and is located about 185miles southwest of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. The sub-saltChimichanga well, is located on Garden Banks Block 127 and isjointly owned by Shell Offshore, Amerada Hess, and PennzoilExploration & Production.

Production from Chimichanga began June 4 and tested at aninitial rate of 20 MMcf/d gas and 2,100 barrels of oil per day. Thewell was drilled through a 1,300 foot thick salt table encounteredat 9,269 feet to a total true vertical depth of 13,287 feet. Waterdepth at the well location is 630 feet.

Production from the sub-salt well will be processed at theEnchilada A Platform, as will future production from wells plannedfrom the recently installed Salsa B Platform, located nearby onGarden Banks Block 172. Additional wells are planned to developreserves at the Enchilada field, about half of which will besub-salt.

Peak production from the two platforms in the Enchilada field iscurrently expected to be 10,000 barrels of condensate and 200 MMcfof gas per day. In addition to processing its own hydrocarbons, theEnchilada Platform and facilities were built to serve as aprocessing and transportation hub for production from outside theEnchilada area. Total processing capacity at the Enchilada Platformis 60,000 barrels per day for liquids and 400 MMcf per day for gas.

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