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(Alliance News) - Kosmos Energy Ltd said Tuesday it has made a discovery in the US Gulf of Mexico at the Winterfell infrastructure-led exploration well.
Kosmos holds a 17.5% working interest in the well.
"Winterfell was designed to test a sub-salt Upper Miocene prospect located in Green Canyon Block 944. The well encountered approximately 26 meters of net oil pay in two intervals," the Dallas-headquartered upstream oil company said.
The well is located in about 1,600 metres of water, and was drilled to a total depth of about 7,000 metres.
An affiliate of Beacon Offshore Energy LLC is operator of the Winterfell well, Kosmos noted.
Additional interest owners include Red Willow Offshore LLC, Ridgewood Monarch North LLC, CSL Exploration, LP, CL&F Offshore LLC, Houston Energy, LP, Beacon Offshore Energy Exploration LLC, and Beacon Asset Holdings LLC.
"Kosmos will now work with partners on an appraisal plan and development options. The discovery is located within tie back distance to several existing and planned host facilities," the company added.
The company also plans to drill the Zora ILX well in the Gulf of Mexico later in the year.
Kosmos Chair & Chief Executive Andrew Inglis said: "We are pleased to have started the New Year with exploration success at Winterfell validating our proven basin exploration strategy, which is focused on low cost, short cycle, low carbon development solutions.
"The Winterfell well was funded by a portion of the proceeds from the partial sale of our frontier exploration portfolio. The well in Green Canyon Block 944 de-risks prospectivity in several neighbouring blocks held by Kosmos, with approximately 100 million barrels of gross potential within Kosmos' acreage position."
Shares in Kosmos Energy were untraded in London on Tuesday but last closed at 199.13 pence each. In New York, the shares are up 2.6% in pre-market trading at USD2.80.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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