Waters

Apache Corp. said operations have been completed at a well at Main Pass 295 in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico that had an uncontrolled flow of natural gas fluid flowing underneath. The operator detected the flow on Feb. 4 and activated a blowout preventer, but tests indicated that the hydrocarbon had migrated from the bottom of the 8,300-foot hole to a shallower sand formation 1,100 feet below the sea floor (see Daily GPI, Feb. 19). A relief rig was sent to the location in case a separate well had to be drilled. The bottom of the well has been plugged and cemented, and the gas migration has been stopped, Apache said. Management still is evaluating the next steps for the well, which is in 218 feet of water.

McMoRan Exploration Co. remains stymied in efforts to unlock production from the Davy Jones No. 1 well in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters after operations designed to unblock perforations using a propellant stimulation gun had “limited success.” The New Orleans-based producer now plans to reperforate the well on South Marsh Island Block 230 with electric wireline using tubing guns. Davy Jones, which McMoRan operates, is part of an ultra-deep natural gas structure encompassing 20,000 acres on four blocks of the Outer Continental Shelf. In late November McMoRan said it still was struggling to bring the prospective No. 1 well online, which was supposed to be flowing 50 MMcf/d last summer (see Daily GPI, Nov. 28). McMoRan holds a 63.4% working interest with Energy XXI (15.8%); JX Nippon Oil Exploration (Gulf) Ltd. (12%); and Moncrief Offshore LLC (8.8%). In early December Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., whose top executives also run McMoRan, agreed to to buy the company, as well as Plains Exploration & Production Co., for $9 billion (see Daily GPI, Dec. 6).

McMoRan Exploration Co., which has kept investors dangling with promises that its Davy Jones natural gas discovery in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) would be flowing 50 MMcf/d by now, saw its shares plunge last week after the company admitted that it still is struggling to bring the prospective well online.

McMoRan Exploration Co., which has kept investors dangling with promises that its Davy Jones natural gas discovery in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) would be flowing 50 MMcf/d by now, saw its shares plunge by more than 20% on Monday and another 15%-plus early Tuesday after the company admitted that it still is struggling to bring the prospective well online.

McMoRan Exploration Co., whose upstream spending has been eaten up by exploration activity in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), expects commercial production from the highly touted Davy Jones natural gas prospect to be in motion later this month.

McMoRan Exploration Co., whose upstream spending has been eaten up by exploration activity in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), now expects commercial production from the highly touted Davy Jones natural gas prospect to be in motion late this month.

As producers turned up the volume on their opposition to the federal government’s regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands, they caught a break in the long-awaited proposed rule that Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued Friday.

Despite an ongoing struggle to clear a blockage on its Davy Jones prospect, considered one of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters, McMoRan Exploration Co.’s exploration results “remain positive,” the New Orleans-based producer said.

Davy Jones, considered one of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters, faces several weeks of delay before commercial production begins after operator McMoRan Exploration Co. reported that a blockage has prevented a measurable flow rate in the first well.