US independent LLOG Exploration announced this week that it acquired rights to 41 deepwater blocks in the US federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
Louisiana-headquartered LLOG highlighted that it holds a 100% working interest and is the sole operator of all the blocks that lie in the western and less-developed GOM.
The 41 blocks span nearly 236,000 acres in the East Breaks and Alaminos Canyon areas which lie north of LLOG’s Blacktip projects.
LLOG did not disclose the purchase price or the company from which it acquired the leases; however, regulatory records show that Shell previously held the majority ownership of all these leases.
The recent lease acquisition follows LLOG's purchase last year of Shell’s deepwater fields, Blacktip and Blacktip North. Discovered in 2019, Shell described Blacktip as a "significant" asset located nearly 40 miles northeast of its Perdido spar at a water depth of approximately 6,200 ft.
LLOG said it drilled a successful sidetrack on the Blacktip discovery well last year and will drill an appraisal well at Blacktip North in the third quarter of this year.
LLOG also began expanding its Who Dat offshore projects earlier this year. The LLOG-led joint venture with Karoon Energy and Westlaw began drilling two exploration wells in Who Dat East and Who Dat South for a combined cost of up to $77 million.
The Louisiana-based offshore producer is also in the midst of converting an existing platform into a floating production unit (FPU) for its Leon and Castile discoveries.
Named the Salamanca FPU, formerly the Independence Hub, this facility will operate in 6,400 ft of water with a capacity of 60,000 B/D of crude oil and 40,000 MMscf/D of natural gas. First production from the project’s Lower Tertiary reservoirs is expected by mid-2025.
