The
Kaskida Oil Field is an offshore
oil fieldAn oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...
located in the
Keathley CanyonKeathley Canyon is an undersea canyon in the in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.The Canyon is rich in oil fields. The major oilfields at the Keathley Canyon are Tiber, Kaskida, Lucius, and Buckskin. Many oil companies, including Chevron Corporation, BP, Anadarko...
block 292 of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sector of the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, 250 miles (402.3 km) south-west of New Orleans,
LouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. The field is operated by
BPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
, and owned by BP (70%) and
Devon EnergyDevon Energy Corporation , is among the largest U.S.-based independent natural gas and oil producers. Based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the company's operations are focused on North American onshore exploration and production...
(30%).
History
The petroleum rights for the block 292 were acquired by BP, Devon Energy and Anadarko Petroleum in a federal lease sale in August 2003. The Kaskida field was discovered in 2006 in a water depth of 5860 feet (1,786.1 m).
TransoceanTransocean Ltd. is one of the world's largest offshore drilling contractors. The company rents floating mobile drill rigs, along with the equipment and personnel for operations, to oil and gas companies at an average daily rate of US$282,700...
's drilling rig
Deepwater HorizonDeepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore oil drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the rig was commissioned by R&B Falcon, which later became part of Transocean, registered in Majuro, Marshall...
drilled a well to a total depth of approximately 32500 feet (9,906 m). Drilling in the block 291, located 5 miles (8 km) to the west from the block 292, started in 2008 and oil was found in November 2009.
Originally BP owned 55%, Anadarko 25%, and Devon 20% of the project. In March 2008, Anadarko agreed to sell its stake to
StatoilStatoil ASA is a Norwegian petroleum company established in 1972. It merged with Norsk Hydro in 2007 and was known as StatoilHydro until 2009, when the name was changed back to Statoil ASA. The brand Statoil was retained as a chain of fuel stations owned by StatoilHydro...
but BP and Devon exercised their pre-emption rights.
Reserves
The Kaskida field is expected to contain 3 Goilbbl of
oil in placeOil in place is the total hydrocarbon content of an oil reservoir and is often abbreviated STOOIP, which stands for Stock Tank Original Oil In Place, or STOIIP for Stock Tank Oil Initially In Place, referring to the oil in place before the commencement of production...
. It is one of the largest
PaleogeneThe Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
discoveries.
Development
The well in block 291 is drilled by the
West Sirius rig, owned Seadrill Offshore. BP plans to start well tests in 2011.