ENI makes new oil discovery offshore Mexico

Italian oil major ENI announced on 17 February a new oil discovery on the Saasken Exploration Prospect in Block 10, located in the mid-deep water of the Cuenca Salina in the Sureste Basin, Offshore Mexico.
According to preliminary estimates, the new discovery may contain between 200 and 300 million barrels of oil in place, ENI said in a press release.
According to the Italian company, Saasken-1 NFW well, which has led to the discovery, is the sixth consecutive successful well drilled by ENI offshore Mexico in the Sureste Basin. It is located approximately 65 kilometers off the coast, and was drilled by the Valaris 8505 Semisub in a water depth of 340 metres and reached a total depth of 3,830 metres.
Saasken-1 discovered 80 metres of net pay of good quality oil in the Lower Pliocene and Upper Miocene sequences, ENI said, adding that the reservoirs show excellent petrophysical properties. An intensive data collection has been carried out on the well and the data acquired indicate a production capacity for the well of more than 10,000 barrels of oil per day.
ENI noted that the discovery is opening a potential commercial outcome of Block 10 since several other prospects located nearby may be clustered in a synergic development.
The Block 10 Joint Venture is composed by ENI, which is the operator with a 65% stake, Russia’s LUKOIL with a 20% and UK’s Capricorn with a 15% stake. ENI said the consortium will work to appraise the discovery and to exploit nearby synergies in order to start the studies for a commercial development.
ENI said Mexico is a core country in the company’s strategy of future organic growth. The company is currently producing approximately 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) from Area 1 and expects to reach a plateau of 100,000 boed in the first half of 2021. Eni is also planning an important exploration campaign in the other licenses held in Mexico.
ENI has been present in Mexico since 2006. Currently Eni holds rights in eight exploration and production blocks in which six ENI is the Operator, all located in the Sureste Basin in the Gulf of Mexico.